Tuna Producer Steps Up To Save Turtles, Sharks After Public Outcry

Thanks to a public push by a famous TV chef, Greenpeace and other animal and environmental activists, a major seafood producer has agreed to start selling only sustainably-caught tuna. The company LDH, owner of Oriental & Pacific (a brand stocked by Tesco and Asda grocery stores) announced it would sell only sustainably sourced tuna starting in April 2015.

"It's great news that the manufacturers of Oriental & Pacific have reacted to public pressure," said Greenpeace UK oceans campaigner, Ariana Densham. "Their tinned tuna is caught using a method that kills sharks, rays and turtles. But next year that will end. That means this dodgy tuna will no longer be found on the shelves of Britain's biggest supermarket."

UK celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall helped publicize the movement by urging consumers to demand that their grocery stores -- Tesco in particular -- stock sustainable fish.

"I want to say a huge thank you to the thousands of people who told Tesco they didn't want this sort of tuna on sale," he said.

The company will be moving away from the current purse-seine method, which involves using large nets that catch millions of other animals, and have been pointed as a major source of bycatch.

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