New Zealand seafood company Sealord has rejected criticism it supports unsustainable fishing methods.
Greenpeace says Sealord is refusing to take steps to eliminate the use of destructive fish aggregating devices, unlike the Australian fish cannery, John West.
John West says it will phase out the devices used by its tuna purse seiners by 2015 but Alison Sykora of Sealord says her company will continue to patronise fishing methods used by their tuna suppliers.
She says their main objective is to look at overall stock health:
"We agree bycatch needs to be reduced and that's why we're working with the fishermen. We actually work with the ISSF, which is a global group of conservationists, scientists and fishermen and that's all about managing all kinds of methods. Banning one method isn't necessarily the answer, we have to make sure that all well-managed bycatch is reduced."
Sealord Communications Manager Alison Sykora.
