tiggymalvern: (scientists do it repeatedly)
tiggymalvern ([personal profile] tiggymalvern) wrote2009-06-24 08:20 am
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More on Environmentally Responsible Seafood

Why Dolphin Friendly Tuna not only isn't enough, it's a real problem.

The one part of the article I disagree with is this - I am taking the options of “just stop fishing for tuna” and “come up with another way” off the table- it’s simply not going to happen. Come up with another way is already happening. Consumers just aren't looking for it.

According to the US SeaFood Watch guide, the only environmentally responsible kind of tuna to eat in the US is that caught locally (US or BC) using pole or troll methods. A close inspection of cans in our local supermarkets turned up cans of Tuna Guys US troll-caught white albacore tuna, not only in our local PCC whole foods store, but in stacks in every branch of mass market QFC I've ever been to. This is what I've been buying for the last 3 years, based on the Seafood Watch guide, without ever knowing why. Now I know why. I know there's an equivalent responsible seafood guide for Australia, and I'm sure there is for other parts of the world too.

Yes, a can of Tuna Guys troll-caught tuna costs almost twice as much as the cheapest can of Starkist. But it's much better quality - you get a solid chunk of tuna instead of a compressed together mish-mash in water. And the most important question of all is: How much are the oceans worth to you?

[identity profile] solo.livejournal.com 2009-06-24 03:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, that is... horrible. I didn't know that. And I don't even think you can get any tuna other than 'dolphin friendly' around here these days. :-(

On a lighter note, the visual of trolls trying to catch tuna is giving me great joy.

[identity profile] tiggymalvern.livejournal.com 2009-06-24 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, all tuna comes dolphin-friendly because that campaign was so successful. The difference is in not buying the dolphin friendly tuna caught in purse nets - and if the can doesn't say, that's because it is.

The trolls would look so cute, wouldn't they? I have images in my head like the grizzly bears catching salmon XD (I did google troll fishing to see what it really is, I admit.)

[identity profile] lady-ganesh.livejournal.com 2009-06-26 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
Good to know! And it's not like tuna's that expensive for those of us lucky enough to still have jobs.

[identity profile] tiggymalvern.livejournal.com 2009-06-26 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
Nobody should be eating a lot of tuna anyway, because of the mercury accumulation issues. I guess if you're hitting financial hard times and find the extra $2 a can tough, my advice would probably be to eat less of it.

[identity profile] fuzipenguin.livejournal.com 2009-06-26 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
Wow. Interesting read.

Good thing I don't eat tuna.

[identity profile] tiggymalvern.livejournal.com 2009-06-26 06:41 am (UTC)(link)
Lol - I hope you follow the Seafood Guide for what you do eat :-)

[identity profile] fuzipenguin.livejournal.com 2009-06-27 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
I actually don't eat seafood at all. Freshwater fish is my limit.