Turtles, sharks and juvenile tuna need your help!

Ocean Defenders,

I've got some great news to share with you about our campaign to save tuna. This week, having got wind of the fact that it was going to come last in Greenpeace UK's new tinned tuna league table, Tesco (a supermarket giant in the UK) did a spectacular u-turn. After being the subject of a Greenpeace investigation, it has radically improved its policy on the fishing methods used to catch its own-brand tinned tuna.

It seems the mere threat of a Greenpeace campaign - and the outrage of thousands of Greenpeace supporters - is sometimes enough to move huge corporations.

We need international tinned tuna brands to follow suit in order to give sharks, turtles and juvenile tuna the break they so desperately need! That's why I am writing to you today - to ask for your help in stopping ocean destruction by Princes - a tuna supplier with an incredibly poor record for sustainability.

Click for big version

The majority of Princes tuna is caught using FADs (fish aggregating devices) alongside massive purse seine nets. FADs are basically death traps for endangered sharks, rays and juvenile tuna and if any company is serious about sustainability - it shouldn't have anything to do with them.

Write to Princes now and tell it to stop canning ocean destruction.

You may have already sent a letter to Princes, and if so you probably received an automated response with empty statements. But the bottom line is - Princes is still responsible for the unacceptable loss of marine life because it has yet to change its policy on FADs. You can still e-mail Princes telling it you know its dirty secret and urge it to act on its serious and genuine commitment to sustainability.

Greenpeace UK supporters have been sending complaints to their national fair trading authority pointing out that Princes has been printing false green claims on its tuna tins in the UK. Labels state "Princes is fully committed to fishing methods which protect the marine environment and marine life." And after just one day of launching this online action we received confirmation from Princes that it will be removing this statement.

Now that Princes has admitted its tuna products are unsustainable it needs to start taking measures to change the way its tuna is caught - rather than just changing its labels. With your help - we're hoping to mount enough pressure on them so that they start walking their talk.

I'm currently on the Rainbow Warrior in Taiwan. We're taking this amazing ship on a tour of East Asia rallying support for the creation of marine reserves in the Pacific Commons - one of the most important marine areas for the conservation of the world's tuna species. You can find all the updates from us on the ship including videos, photos and blogs here. And you can read more about the effect of the shifting tuna market on our campaign for healthy oceans here

Thanks for your support! Please share this email with your friends.

-- Sari
Oceans Campaigner

© Scoop Media