⬆️ Our poor young sailor didn’t stand a chance. Caught between a vicious profit hungry industry and blind EU Institutions he was always going to be a victim of forced labour. Photo by João Daniel Pereira.
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To mark the beginning of Ocean Week EU citizens are gathering at the EU Parliament to highlight their concern over inaction on Ocean policies. It’s no good discussing these issues behind closed doors, it’s time to make the restoration of a healthy Ocean THE issue across Europe.

It’s the first day of EU ‘Ocean Week’ and to mark the day Ocean Rebellion ripped open a giant can of Petit Navire tuna in Brussels’ iconic Place du Luxembourg (outside the EU Parliament). The tin, dead sailor and attendant suited fish heads (representing the callous industrial tuna industry) highlight the combined threats industrial tuna fisheries pose to both human life and marine biodiversity. A diversity that goes beyond juvenile yellowfin tuna to include sharks, turtles, dolphins and whales.

⬆️ Ohé, ohé, what a shit show!. File S. Staines.
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⬆️ Industrial fish heads arrive at the EU Parliament, greeted by an intersectional crossing. Gestures are easy, but any gesture needs to be backed up by real action. Photo by João Daniel Pereira.
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The “dead sailor” revealed in the giant tuna can reimagines the ending of the popular French song ‘Il Était un Petit Navire’. In our version the young sailor does not escape the hungry mouths of his fellow seamen. Instead he is murdered by a callous industrial fishing industry which doesn’t care for its workers, it is solely concerned with emptying the Ocean and filling its pockets with the money unsuspecting consumers spend every time they buy a tin of ‘Petit Navire’and ‘John West’ tuna, both owned by global tinned fish giant Thai Union.

The dead sailor was joined by suited yellowfin tuna heads, who stared into space confusing and enchanting passersby and European Union bureaucrats.

Together they called on the European Parliament to adopt an ambitious resolution ‘on the role of social, economic and environmental standards in safeguarding fair competition for all aquatic food products and improving food security’. Which is a longwinded way of telling industrial fishing to stop exploiting workers and stop overfishing the Ocean. The Portuguese MEP Paulo Do Nascimento Cabral states the resolution: “Emphasises the crucial role of labour rights, the employment of women and young people, fair wages and a safe working environment in ensuring fair and ethical practices in fisheries” and “Stresses that innovation is crucial to develop sustainable fishing practices and gear, minimising the environmental impact, reducing fuel consumption and bycatches”.

⬆️ A lack of ambition costs lives, both on land and at sea. Photo by João Daniel Pereira.
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Sebastian Everding, a German Member of the European Parliament (MEP) said:
“Industrial tuna fishing symbolizes a system that prioritizes profit over life – both the lives of people on board and the life in the ocean. If we truly want sustainable seas, we must end exploitation in all its forms! Our oceans are vital, complex ecosystems that harbor countless, some still undiscovered species. Protecting them means preserving the very foundation of all life on this planet.”

⬆️ EU Parlez what? Talk is very cheap, action takes more than words. Photo by João Daniel Pereira / Guy Reece / Peter Boyd
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For years, European tuna brands like Petit Navire, owned and operated by global tuna mega giant Thai Union, have sold their tuna as ‘sustainable’ by using the Blue Tick mark of “trusted” brand, the Marine Stewardship Council, or MSC. In recent years however, evidence has emerged of significant cases of forced labour in MSC fisheries. Yet, the MSC still does not care. They casually wash their hands of the problem by saying that their “main mission is environmental” and that their “ecolabel does not make claims about social conditions”. In effect the MSC have said and keep saying “Hey, we think it’s no problem that the can of Petit Navire tuna sold in supermarkets across the European Union is certified by us as ‘sustainable’ – EVEN IF IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN CAUGHT BY A CHILD SLAVE, OR ON A VESSEL WHO’S CAPTAIN WAS MURDERED!”

Clearly, the Marine Stewardship Council does not care about human rights or the risk of modern-day child slavery in fisheries.

msc certifies lies

And neither do supermarkets like Monoprix in Belgium, nor tuna brands like Petit Navire. If they did, they wouldn’t be selling it.

⬆️ Don’t buy tinned tuna, if you do you might be contributing to forced labour and you’ll be certainly contributing to the marine destruction. Photo by João Daniel Pereira.
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Olga Martin-Ortega, Professor of International law and lead of the Business, Human Rights and the Environment Research Group said:
“The EU has a unique opportunity to live up to its international human rights and international commitments on human rights and the marine environment as well as sending a clear message to other states, international organisations and businesses that we all have an urgent and shared responsibility to protect all life at sea.”

David Hammond, Founder of ‘Human Rights at Sea, said:
“Human Rights at Sea and associates continue to facilitate the development of potential legislative text in support of current legal submissions. Key to eventual success, will be ensuring existing law is enacted at state level and all applicable enforcement mechanisms are reinforced.”

Pauline Bricault, Campaign manager at BLOOM said:
“Supermarket chains can no longer stay oblivious to the destructiveness of the tuna industry. Their so-called ‘sustainable’ tuna sourcing policies still largely allow destructive fishing practices, which have contributed to the mass decline of tuna populations and shark abundance. Supermarkets also fail to protect human rights, as they rely on policies and labels that do not verify working conditions on board vessels, even though 42% of human rights violations in the global fishing industry occur on tuna fishing vessels. Lastly, tuna is systematically contaminated with mercury, a powerful neurotoxin that is extremely dangerous to human health, even at low doses, and supermarkets should put policies in place to protect consumers’ health.”

Alex Hofford, Marine Wildlife Campaigner, Shark Guardian, said:
“It’s incredible to think that when you buy a can of tuna in most supermarkets in Europe that not only could it have caused the death of thousands of sharks, but it might also have been caught by a slave. We call on all Members of the European Union Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council to support and strengthen Portuguese MEP Paulo Do Nascimento Cabral’s important resolution.”

⬆️ There is something very fishy about EU Fisheries. Photo by João Daniel Pereira.
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Ocean Rebellion demands:

Portuguese MEP Paulo Do Nascimento Cabral’s resolution to be strengthened by the adoption of a few crucial amendments. And that these recommendations are taken onboard by the European Commission and the European Council, notably Amendments 98 and 99 to the resolution which “Considers that voluntary certification schemes should go beyond the minimum international social standards, such as those established by the ILO and the IMO, and ensure proper controls and audits of the certified fisheries;” and “Regrets that over the years the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) third party certification has lost credibility and is misleading in many cases, by certifying unsustainable fisheries and failing to address labor abuses and human rights violations in certified fisheries; considers that a profound reform of such third party certification is needed with the adoption of rigorous social, labour rights and environmental standards and improved traceability and governance, to the benefit of the marine environment, consumers, seafarers but also fisheries and seafood companies that adopt stringent standards and are therefore facing unfair competition;”.

Also the MSC must strike off vessels caught abusing crew from its certified vessel list and to include social and labour rights in its ‘MSC Fisheries Standard’, the standard by which (so-called) sustainability of tuna fisheries are measured.

Plus supermarket brands across the world must stop selling tuna which might have been caught by modern day slaves. European supermarket chains must also sign up to the Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea, and the the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) action CA23103 on ‘Life, liberty and health: ensuring universal protection of human rights at sea (BlueRights)‘, initiatives designed to bolster the protection of human rights in the fisheries sector.

And finally, Ocean Rebellion demands all European lawmakers, EU Council members and the EU Commission to recognise and take action to protect human rights abuses and modern-day slavery in industrial tuna fisheries in whatever capacity they can.

Another Ocean is Possible.

⬆️ As the Sea Dies we Die. Photo by João Daniel Pereira.
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Related topics

EU Parliament modern slavery Overfishing

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