The Hidden Secret of
Canned Tuna 2012
The Hidden Secret of
Canned Tuna
Dwindling tuna stocks Worldwide, up to 90% of stocks of large predatory fish have already been wiped out.1 Fishing practices used by the global tinned tuna industry are contributing to sharp declines in populations of marine animals including top predators like sharks and rays, and even rare and endangered sea turtles. Tuna stocks themselves are in trouble – not only because of overfishing, but also due to the widespread catching of juveniles which have not yet had the chance to reproduce. Between 1950 and 2006, the total global tuna catch increased tenfold to 4.3 million tonnes.2 The increasing pattern of tuna overexploitation and its associated bycatch is exacerbated by the enormous increase in the capacity of tuna purse seine fleets and the proliferation of the use of Fishing Aggregating Devices (FADs). Larger boats with greater capacity are chasing fewer and fewer fish. Industrial purse seine vessels fishing to supply global markets can catch up to 3,000 tonnes of tuna in a single trip, almost double the entire annual catch some Pacific Island nations take in their own waters.3 1
“Taking an overall view, at present it is clear that the global catch level for tuna will not be sustainable unless action is taken.” John West (UK) 4
Increasing fishing pressure – too many boats chasing too few fish Despite the fact that tuna stocks are declining, the number of vessels targeting tuna continues to increase worldwide. Here in Korea, Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, (MIFAFF) developed a new vessel building scheme in 2009 for distant water fishing (DWF) vessels and plans to build around 40 vessels,19 of which will be tuna purse seiners. MIFAFF wants to promote the Korean DWF industry as it provides a significant level of income through international trade, especially from tuna fisheries.
Canned Tuna in Korea Korea currently ranks second globally in terms of its distant-water tuna catch. The total catch of Korea’s purse seine fleet in 2010 was 278,227 t 5 and most of these tuna was exported, especially to Thailand, for canned tuna production. Koreans eat more canned tuna than any other Asian nation. The average annual consumption of canned tuna per person in Korea is about 1 kg(about 5 cans) – that’s about 260million cans of tuna each year. In comparison, the annual consumption for US is 1.6 kg (8 cans) per person. Spain leads Euorpe’s tuna consumption with 2.5kg(13 cans) per person per year, followed by Italy with 2.1kg(10 cans), UK with 1.8kg(9 cans)and France with1.6kg(8 cans), and 6 Korea’s canned tuna market is worth around $370 million (US).7 In practice, Korea’s fishing companies catch more than 95% of their total catch in the Pacific (based on 2009 figures).8 Almost all of the canned tuna comes from the Pacific and after only a few decades of industrial fishing, many of the commercial tuna species are now exploited at unsustainable levels
Big three in Korea There are three big tuna companies controlling more than 95% of the tuna for Korea’s canned tuna market.
Fig 1 Catch share of Purse Seine tuna by company in 2010 9 10
5.00%
16.87%
51.93 % 26.64%
Dongwon Silla Sajo industries others Note: Sajo industries includes Sajo industry, Sajo Daerim, Sajo Oyang, Sajo Seafood
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Canned tuna market In this market, Dongwon F&B accounts for 69.8%, followed by Sajo Haepyo with 16.5% and Ottogi with 13.1% in the first semester of 2011. While Dongwon and Sajo are fishing companies, ‘Ottogi’ sources the tuna mainly from Silla. Ottogi has two factories and the main production plant is located in Goseong. Most of the canned tuna from these 3 brands have ‘Dolphinsafe’. This dolphin safe certification does not guarantee their overall sustainability practices or safeguard other bycatch species including juvenile tuna
Dongwon Dongwon Industries and the Dongwon F&B both are the subsidiaries under Dongwon group. In the canned tuna market, Dongwon industries supplies the Pacific tuna caught by its purse seine fleet to produce canned tuna for the Korean market under the brand “Dongwon”. Dongwon has the biggest purse senier fleet in Korea with total 16 purse seiners, 22 longliners, , 3 trawlers and 4 reefer carriers.11 14 Dongwon’s purse seiners are operating in the mid-western Pacific producing an estimated amount of 150,000 tonnes and 1 purse seiner in Atlantic ocean producing an estimated amount of 8,000 tons annually.12 Dongwon’s purse seiners use gigantic fishing nets of 2,500meter long and 300 meter depth with 700 meter diameter, which is 5 times wider than usual soccer game ground. These vessels are equipped with cutting-edge facilities like helicopters, radars and sonar. The main targeting fishes are Yellowfin and Skipjack for canning. With the biggest fishing capacity, Dongwon accounts for more than 50% of purse seine tuna catch of Korea. Dongwon has 4 factories in Korea to support the canned tuna production for local market. Their own factory in Changwan has the production capacity of about 200 million cans per year, which is the biggest scale in Korea.
Sajo Sajo industries includes Sajo industry, Sajo Daerim, Sajo Oyang, Sajo Seafood. Sajo has the biggest fleet among Korean tuna companies and it also ranks first worldwide on its 52 tuna longliners. The current fishing fleet is 52 longliners, 6 purse seiners (+2 vessels under construction to be added), 8 trawlers, 4 bottom longliners for Cods, and 2 jiggers in New Zealand13 , of which the total fleet is 72. Sajo’s tuna longliners and purse seiners are operating mainly in the Pacific, Indian, Atlantic and Southern Indian Ocean near the equator. The targeting species are Bluefin, Big eye, Yellow fin, Albacore, and Marlins. According to the Sajo Industries’ business report submitted on 14th Nov 2011 to Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Sajo Industries specified of 2 more new vessels building plan. Both of them are new purse seiners, one supposed to arrive in March 2012, and the other supposed to be introduced in May 2012. Sajo’s main canned tuna production is done in their Goseong factory.
Ottogi (tuna supplied by Silla) Ottogi is the second biggest tuna brand in Korea’s domestic market14. They source their tuna from a Korean tuna fishing company Silla. Silla ranks third in distant water fishing companies in Korea in terms of the total catch volume and the exports15 but rank secondly on purse senie’s tuna catch. The company owns 11 tuna longliners and 6 purse seiners in relation to tuna fishery. Including all the vessels owned by the subsidiaries, their total fishing fleet is 28 vessels. The annual catch from its longline fleet for sashimi tuna and purse seine fleet for canned tuna is 3,798 tonnes and 72,968 tonnes respectively.16 The company sold an old purse seiner for $ 14million to its overseas subsidiary and built a new vessel in 2011. Furthermore the company decided to build a purse-seiner additionally at about $23million in 2012. 3
Korea Canned Tuna ranking 2012 In order to understand the canned tuna brands in Korea, Greenpeace have done a survey on all three big tuna brands in August 2012. The information can help consumers to understand about the canned tuna products and help them to make a smarter choice when buying a canned tuna in Korea. The tuna brands were ranked based on the following criteria:
Sustainability Policy
It is essential that companies have in place an effective policy that ensures their products are produced sustainably.
Traceability
In order to ensure that their policies are being followed, companies must have full traceability for all their tuna, from the point of capture to the final canned product.
Fishing methods used
Most tuna are caught using purse seine nets with fish aggregation devices (FADs), a method responsible for high levels of bycatch including sharks and other marine life as well as juvenile tuna from threatened species. In contrast, pole and line fishing offers a less wasteful solution, with reduced bycatch. Pole and line fisheries also tend to offer greater economic returns to local populations. Purse seine fishing without FADs is an acceptable secondary option.
Tuna species used
Each tuna species is under different levels of pressure. Bigeye and Yellowfin tuna are being fished at a very high rate, have declined significantly and are at risk. Skipjack tuna is declining, but is the tuna species of least concern.
Equity
It is important that reasonable economic benefits are returned to the countries whose water the tuna are caught in. Companies also need to ensure that workers on fishing boats and in tuna canneries are fairly paid and work in safe and healthy conditions
Illegal fishing accounts for up to 46% of fishing activity in the Pacific, exacerbating the Avoiding illegally caught fish overfishing crisis. Companies should be able to guarantee their supply chain does not include operators that engage in illegal, unregulated or unreported (IUU) fishing
Support for marine reserves
Companies should offer public support for the establishment of marine reserves, including the proposed protected areas known as, the Pacific Commons. This will ensure the longterm sustainability of fish stocks and healthy marine ecosystems.
Labelling
Providing comprehensive information on labels gives customers the opportunity to make an informed choice based on the product’s sustainability information. Labels should include the species name, catch method and the area the fish was caught in.
Driving change
Tuna fisheries need to improve urgently, and companies have a responsibility to help to drive improvement through both political and financial support
The information has been obtained from a combination of brand responses to a Greenpeace product survey, correspondence with brands and companies, publically available information and product evaluation 4
Korea canned tuna league table Sajo Sajo has the biggest tuna fleet in Korea and they catch the tuna to supply their own brand canned tuna. Sajo responded positively to Greenpeace’s tuna survey and they have their sustainability policy on their website. They also plan to improve equitable sourcing by increasing the percentage of sourcing tuna from the local fleet from the Pacific. But the company is still sourcing unsustainable bigeye and yellowfin for its canned tuna.
Sources mainly skipjack from a healthy stock traceability as catch their own tuna Has plans to increase sourcing tuna from the Pacific local fleet and canneries. Relies on destructive FADs with purse seine nets. Labels the species name for most products but doesn’t disclose catch area or method. No guarantee not to source from high seas pockets. Allow sourcing from vessels and companies that have been blacklisted for illegal activities no support for marine reserves no financial or political support for improving tuna fisheries Good
Ottogi (Tuna supplied by Silla) Ottogi has no public available sustainable policy for canned tuna, but they worked closely with their tuna supplier Silla when replying to Greenpeace’s survey. Ottogi claims that most of their tuna are caught without FADs but they did not provide the exact figures or evidence to prove this.
Work closely with main supplier to ensure traceability use mainly skipjack from a healthy stock. source some unsustainable yellowfin tuna. No public policy that ensures sustainably or equitably sourced canned tuna. Ottogi has not made a public commitment to support the creation of marine reserves to help safeguard tuna for future generations. Ottogi’s canned tuna product labels do not indicate the fishing method or area of catch for the species. no financial or political support for improving tuna fisheries
Bad
Dongwon Dongwon’s tuna are also supplied by their own fleet. As the biggest tuna brand in Korea with market share more than 50%, it is very disappointing that Dongwon has no sustainability policy for canned tuna and they refused to provide information on their product’s sustainability. Dongwon’s fleet also has the history of IUU record. Has not responsed to Greenpeace canned tuna survey and refuse to provide any information on its products sustainability.
Sourcing unsustainable yellowfin for its canned tuna. Relies on destructive FADs with purse seine nets. No commitment to improve sustainably or equitably sourced canned tuna. No public policy not to source from high seas pockets. Labels the species name for most products but doesn’t disclose catch area or method. no financial or political support for improving tuna fisheries
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FADs FADs are natural or artificial floating objects, often equipped with satellite-linked sonar devices, which are used to attract tuna. Fish and marine life including tuna gather around the FADs, allowing the entire range of species associating with the FAD to be scooped up in vast nets known as purse seines. These purse seines consist of a huge curtain of net that encircles a school of tuna and then closes when a line is pulled, much like a draw-string purse. It is estimated that around 70% of the total global purse seine catch is taken using FADs but this varies depending on the ocean region, the fleet, and the target species.17 The problem is, FADs attract all array of marine life, not just tuna – this gets scooped up too and is known as bycatch. The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) – which counts its members as the global giants of the tuna trading industry – agrees that when used without FADs, “purse seine fishing has an average by-catch rate of less than 1 percent (0.5-1%).”18 When used in combination with FADs, the bycatch is typically ten times greater19 – and can be much worse. Most of this is made up of sharks and rays – although whales, dolphins and turtles are also common casualties. But the problem is many times greater when you include the bycatch of juvenile tuna from high-value, at-risk species. According to the ISSF, “purse seine fishing on FADs can also lead to greater catches of small tuna, typically of the bigeye and yellowfin species. This can represent 15-20% of the catch…”20 Globally, it is estimated that FAD associated bycatch in purse seine fisheries may now be as high as 182,500 tonnes annually 21 which would fill the equivalent of over1.1 billion cans of tuna every year.22
The dirty little secret of tuna brands Less well-known is the effect tuna fishing is having on other marine species. As a result of wasteful fishing methods, our tuna catch is causing the widespread death of endangered and threatened marine animals – including sharks, rays, dolphins and turtles – known collectively as ‘bycatch.’ In tuna purse seine fisheries using Fish Aggregation Devices, or FADs, for every 10kg catch, up to 1 kg is bycatch and a further 2kg is undersized tuna. http://www.greenpeace.org/korea/multimedia/ videos/oceans/tuna-crisis/
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Sharks and rays
Juvenile tuna and threatened tuna species
Sharks and rays are being killed in vast numbers by tuna fishing. More than 75% of the oceanic pelagic shark and ray species are now classified as threatened or near threatened by the peak scientific organisation for assessing threatened species – the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)23 . Many of these species are caught regularly in purse seine nets set on FADs targeting tuna.24 These species are slow to reproduce, making them highly vulnerable to overexploitation.25 Being top of the food-chain, sharks are especially vital to the marine ecosystem. Silky sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks and whale sharks are commonly caught in FAD in tuna purse seine fisheries.26 All three are on the IUCN red list 27. Cutting fins off sharks, often while they are still alive and then throwing the shark back in the ocean, is also still in practice on many tuna fishing boats. This practice is in fact so lucrative to the vessels as tuna catches decline that many vessels, especially longline boats have switched to target sharks for the shark fin trade as part of their operations. As stock assessments, management and the ability to monitor the activities of longline vessels remains poor this is a great concern.
In 2010, the IUCN listed five out of eight tuna species as being in trouble (critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, near threatened) and put all of them on the IUCN red list.28 Now bigeye and yellowfin is listed as vulnerable to extinction, with its global populations at worryingly low levels. Canned tuna is usually skipjack, which, while diminishing fast, for now retains a healthier population. But significant levels of bycatch of juvenile tuna threaten the long-term health of these stocks, as juvenile tuna are taken out of the water before reaching breeding maturity. In 2009 the incidental catch of mostly juvenile bigeye was 43,000 tonnes, roughly two-thirds the size of the targeted catch.29 So the canned tuna on our shelves, mostly caught using purse seines and FADs, is a major factor in pushing yellowfin and bigeye stocks further into depletion.30
Turtles A recent study has shown that the 85,000 turtles officially recorded as killed annually in global fisheries may be a gross underestimation.31 The main sources of turtle deaths are long line, gillnet and trawl fisheries, but purse seiners using FADs can also be responsible for killing turtles. Research from the Pacific region shows 750-2,500 purse seine turtle deaths annually between 1994-2004. Bycatch from fishing with purse seines and FADs may cause problems for Pacific turtle populations32 which are found entangled in nets both below the FADs and on top where they frequently climb up to rest.33 All five Pacific sea turtles are listed as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN red list.34
For each 1,000 tons of yellowfin tuna caught in FAD sets over three years, fishermen caught nearly 111,000 other individual animals, including turtles, sharks, rays and marlins.35
“ Time for change”
The only way to protect marine ecosystems and guarantee sustainable stocks of fish like tuna is to change the way oceans are used and managed. This change must include reducing the amount of fishing vessels and level of fishing effort to long-term sustainable and precautionary levels, reforming fishing practices to more sustainable methods, ensuring proper monitoring and enforcement of rules and applying the ecosystem approach to fisheries and setting aside large areas as marine reserves – national parks at sea – where no fishing takes place to allow stocks and biodiversity to recover. The creation of a large scale network of marine reserves is now widely recognized as essential by marine scientists.36 We have a choice. Either we require our favorite brands to change the way they source their fish, or we face the real possibility that our children will be the last generation to have tuna in their sandwiches and gimbap.
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We must act now!
Time and tuna are running out! What the tuna brands should do As a general rule, retailers should only source from stocks that are being fished sustainably at sustainable levels. Purchase tuna from healthy stocks.-Retailers and fish producers should not buy from overfished Bluefin, bigeye, yellowfin or albacore tuna stocks. Purchase tuna caught using more sustainable methodsmany tuna brands have committed to 100% pole and line fisheries for canned tuna, which is currently regarded as the most sustainable form of fishing for tuna. Provide FAD-free purse seine caught options- retailers and tuna brands can also prioritize sourcing tuna caught by purse seines, but on free swimming tuna not around the FADs and seek to develop the market for ‘FAD-free’ purse seined tuna as a more sustainable product. The company has to increase their products’ traceability and ensuring they don’t buy IUU caught tuna, both for purse seine and longliner. Support the creation of marine reserves- tuna companies should support the creation of a global network of large scale marine reserves, and should publicly support the call for the high seas regions of the Pacific Commons 37 to be set aside as off-limits to fishing and ensure they are not 9
selling any tinned tuna caught in this area. Label with care and accuracy- tuna brands must ensure their product labels at least clearly identify the species, origins and catch method. By changing the way tinned tuna is caught and setting up marine reserves to protect ocean ecosystems and allow fish stocks to recover from overfishing, we can bring an end to the extent of the damage that current tuna fishing practices cause to the marine environment.
What consumer can do? Choose your canned tuna based on our suggestion. Tell the tuna brand that you want a more sustainable choice for canned tuna and to urge them to make public commitments to improve sustainability in their products. Help to spread this message to your family and friends and to support Greenpeace oceans work by signing up as our supporter
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R.A. Myers and B. Worm, ‘Rapid Worldwide Depletion of Predatory Fish Communities’, Nature, 423, 2003, 280-3. [accessed 6.12.10] S eafish, ‘Yellowfin tuna - a global and UK supply chain analysis’, 2009. www.seafish.org/pdf.pl?file=seafish/Documents/Yellowfin%20tuna_ Global%20and%20UK%20supply%20chain%20analysis.pdf [accessed 14.12.10] 3 WCPFC Area Catch Value Estimates 2009. http://ffa.int/node/425#attachments [accessed 16.12.10] 4 Seafood Watch Seafood Report, ‘Yellowfintuna’. www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/ MBA_SeafoodWatch_YellowfinTunaReport.pdf Seafood Watch Seafood Report, ‘Bigeye tuna’. ww.montereybayaquarium. org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA. SeafoodWatch_BigeyeTunaReport.pdf Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council, Press release, 21 August 2007. ww.wpcouncil.org/press/2007.08.21%20Press%20Release%20on%20WCPFC%20SC3.pdf and www.iss-foundation.org/tsm 5 KOFA Yearbook 2010 6 http://www.dongwonfish.co.kr/ezboard/ezboard.asp?mode=view&idx=12&id=report&page=1 7 Cha, Je Hun(2010). Dongwon F&B research report, 13 April 2010.Dongbu Securities 8 KOFA Yearbook 2010 9S ajo business report, submitted by Sajo at DART of FSS, Nov 14 2011, http://dart.fss.or.kr/report/viewer.do?rcpNo=20111114001643&dc mNo=3196435&eleId=10&offset=46445&length=121084&dtd=dart3.xsd&displayImage=hide 10 KOFA Yearbook 2011 11 Dongwon Industries business report 2011.11.4 submitted to FSS 12 http://www.dwml.co.kr/20/2020.asp, http://www.dwml.co.kr/eng.asp, The business report 2011.11.14 13 Sajo Industries homepage> Business> Deep sea fishing http://ind.sajo.co.kr/eng/business/pelagic.asp 14 Ranking between Ottogi and Sajo is very variable every season. 15 2011 KOFA Yearbook 16 SILLA Corp business report submitted 2011.11.14 to FSS 17 J . Hallier and D. Gaertner, ‘Drifting fish aggregation devices could act as an ecological trap for tropical tuna species’. http://hal.ird.fr/ docs/00/26/91/72/PDF/Hallier_GaertnerMEPS7180_Prev2.pdf 18 ISSF, FAD: Fact Aggregating Document, http://iss-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2011/05/FAD-document.pdf 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid. 21 T he FAO reports 2007 purse seine catches of 2,607,201 t. As much as 70% of the 2,607,201 t global catch of purse seined tuna was caught by FADs = 1,825,040.7 t. This is the RETAINED catch of tuna. i.e. if there was 10% bycatch then the retained 1,825,040.7 is 90% of catch, therefore divide by 90, multiply by 100 to get 100% or total catch of 2,027,823 t.So 10% bycatch is 202,782.3 t. Based on the standard 185g can of tuna, this could fill 1,096,118,918 cans. In other words: 1,096 million cans of bycatch or 1.1 billion cans of bycatch (depends how your country defines a billion). 22 B ased on the standard 185g can of tuna, this could fill 1,096,118,918 cans. In other words: 1,096 million cans of bycatch or 1.1 billion cans of bycatch. 23 www.iucnredlist.org/ 24 M D CamhiCamhi MD, Valenti SV, Fordham SV, Fowler SL, Gibson C (2009). The Conservation Status of Pelagic Sharks and Rays.Report of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group, Pelagic Shark Red List Workshop, 19-23 February, 2007, Tubney House, University of Oxford, UK. Accessed Oct 2011 at: http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/ssg_pelagic_report_final.pdf 25 N .K. Dulvy et al, 2008, ‘You can swim but you can’t hide: the global status and conservation of oceanic pelagic sharks and rays’, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 18: 459-482 (2008). http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aqc.975/pdf [accessed 16.10.12] 26 M .D. Camhi et al (2009). The Conservation Status of Pelagic Sharks and Rays. Report of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group Pelagic Shark Red List Workshop. Tubney House, University of Oxford, UK, 19-23 February 2007. http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/ssg_pelagic_report_final. pdf 27 www.iucnredlist.org/ 28 www.iucnredlist.org/ 29 W CPFC Scientific Committee 7, Prospects for effective conservation of bigeye tuna stocks in the Western Central Pacific Ocean, Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, 9-17 August, 2011. 30 U niversity of Hawaii, ‘The Associative Dynamics of Tropical Tuna to a Large-Scale Anchored Fad Array’,2008. http://www.soest.hawaii. edu/PFRP/biology/holland_itano_png.html 31 ‘ The total reported global marine turtle bycatch was~85,000 turtles, but due to the small percentage of fishing effort observed and reported (typically<1% of total fleets), and to a global lack of bycatch information from small scale fisheries, this likely underestimates the true total by at least two orders of magnitude’, Wallace et al, 2010. ‘Global patterns of marine turtle bycatch’. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ j.1755-263X.2010.00105.x/full [accessed 9.12.10] 32 D. Bromhead et al, ‘Review of the impact of fish aggregating devices (FADs) on Global Tuna Fisheries’, 2003 33 J. Franco et al, Design Of Ecological Fads, 2009. www.iotc.org/files/proceedings/2009/wpeb/IOTC-2009-WPEB-16.pdf 34 I UCN Red List Categories: Vulnerable: high risk of extinction in the wild; Endangered: very high risk of extinction in the wild; Critically Endangered: extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/red_list/about_the_red_list/ [accessed 16.12.10] 35 M . Hall, Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission reported in Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/24/dolphin-safe-tunatechpaperplastic08-cx_ee_0724fishing_2.html 36 w ww.york.ac.uk/media/environment/documents/pg/marine_reserves_consensus-1.pdf and ‘Turning the Tide - Addressing the Impact of Fisheries on the Marine Environment’. www.rcep.org.uk/reports/25-marine/documents/Turningthetide.pdf, paragraphs 8.59 and 8.63 [accessed 14.12.10] 37 http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/marine-reserves/pacific-tuna-need-marine-reserves/ 2
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