Fishing Experts Fish4Ever and Marine Connection Join Call for Supermarkets

to Add Sustainable Fish to Canned Range

August 2008: Fish4Ever, the UK's leading sustainability experts for canned fish, welcomes Greenpeace 's ranking of the major canned tuna brands and urges supermarkets to now address the issue comprehensively.   

Fish4Ever has banned FAD's and all other damaging fishing methods from all its fish from the very beginning and welcomes the recent increased interest in this issue.  

Fish4Ever Founder Charles Redfern says: ”Up until recently it's as if the supermarkets commitment to sustainability didn't stretch to the canned fish counter.  We were the only ones to address the issue and we've been a voice in the wilderness for a long time so we're really happy that Greenpeace and others are pushed this issue onto the agenda.  However it's important that new commitments to sustainability are not a knee-jerk reaction.  If supermarkets are serious about sustainability in canned fish they need to look at their own published promises: they need to support every credible sustainability option and look at the issue comprehensively.  Too often the big food players speak with the forked tongue of their PR departments - they fail to even tell their own staff about their own values and adopt a basically superficial approach!"   

Marine Connection fisheries officer, Lissa Goodwin adds: “Eating fish can be a minefield for many people - dolphin friendly stickers are not necessarily helpful as there are many other sea creatures under threat. The only way to be sure that you are not going to be destroying the ocean habitat or risking the lives of sea creatures is to buy sustainable and ethical options. While some supermarkets are becoming proactive on the fresh fish counter it is time they considered the sustainability and ethical practices in their canned fish aisles!" Fish4Ever's approach is as comprehensive as possible: Land, Sea and People.  All land ingredients are organically grown.  This has important sea consequences too as pollution and run-off of artificial fertilisers causes major problems to sea life.  At sea, Fish4Ever supports better-managed seas, avoids the very serious and widespread issue of illegal fishing and only supports highly selective methods and equipment.   But it's the "people angle" which really sets the company apart. 

"We want to see the fish fished locally by local boats wherever possible, we want to see it packed locally, so that it's the local business and the local community that can benefit from the resource" And properly empowered these are the best people to guarantee sustainability and quality.  Too often it's the exact opposite that happens; local people and local business are disempowered and disenfranchised.  The fish resource is abused by foreign industrial boats responding to a global industrial demand system that does not take into account the planet or the producer. 

Fish4Ever wants to see this trend reversed, to link good consumers with good producers and above all to send a message through to everyone in the producing chain saying it's not just about price, it's about what you do and how you do it too.  The company has a comprehensive range of canned fish all sourced ethically and sustainably.

The new Fish4Ever Fair Fish Skipjack tuna from the Maldives provides a 10% premium to ensure local communities are not exploited. Skipjack is the biggest fish consumption in the UK, it's more than 50% of the canned fish market and accounts for a massive 20% in weight terms of all fish consumed! See attached brochure for further information about the hidden cost of tuna! 

A hard copy of The Hidden Cost of Tuna is available from the company – contact Marketing Manager Tracy Wright on 01189238763 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   and on www.fish4ever.co.uk on the news pages.   

*Fish4Ever is currently applying for accreditation from the Fair Trade Foundation.  

Marine Connection is a British charity supporting dolphins, porpoises and other sea creatures. See www.marineconnection.org

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