Bluefin boycott by consumers, retailers and restaurants

Close to 16,000 citizens from 149 countries have signed up to join numerous restaurants, retailers and chefs in boycotting Mediterranean bluefin tuna until stocks have recovered and the fishery is properly controlled and managed. WWF has presented the petition, on behalf of 15,941 concerned individuals, to top fisheries decision-makers in Marrakech, Morrocco, where the 46 Contracting Parties of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) were meeting to decide the future of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean.
 

As increasing numbers of responsible consumers say no to bluefin and the list of chefs, restaurants and retailers around the world that have stopped serving and selling bluefin is also growing, according to WWF. The trailblazers – Auchan in France, Carrefour in Italy, Coop in Italy and Switzerland, ICA in Norway, Moshi Moshi in the UK, and Memento in Spain – have been joined in taking bluefin off their menus and shelves by the French Casino supermarkets, the Norwegian Coop supermarkets, the German processor Deutsche See, the French restaurant chain Elior French, M&J UK seafood supplier, the Swiss supermarkets Migros, Relais du and over 50 restaurants in Monaco.
 

“ICCAT members are under pressure from numerous countries, international institutions, scientists and even their own review to close this fishery and allow it to recover,” said Dr Tudela. “Now they are also coming under pressure from more and more of their own citizens, their noted chefs, their leading restaurants and their leading marketers.” Dr Tudela noted that should ICCAT fail to act this week in Marrakech, support would grow for moving from attempting to control fishers to using a trade ban to save the species from collapse.
 

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