Sustainability

Owner Charles Redfern founded Fish4Ever with the idea of bringing Organic values to sustainability in fish. Our holistic, all-encompassing approach, is both real and comprehensive, focusing on Land, Sea and People, supporting not only the best possible fishing practices, but also the communities and small boats that enact them.

Land

Fish4Ever is the only canned fish brand in the UK which insists on organic land ingredients.

Organic farming standards address the issues of intensive farming and the use of harmful chemicals, that not only damage the land but through river systems can result in the pollution of coastal waters.

Sea

We choose small boats first, local fishing and good methods.

Sustainable choices allow fishing that doesn’t create damage to sea life. All our fish is caught with very selective equipment in precise parts of the sea. 

People

We support local boats fishing carefully, not far from their port of origin, paying and treating their workers well.

We prefer small-scale artisan boats and local packing whenever possible and believe in fair pay and workers’ rights.

Fish4Ever vs The MSC

On the surface the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) looks excellent, structurally and systemically it is very good.  If their claim was to ‘Improve industrial fishing’ there would not be a problem. 

However, it has become a system with a stock-centric definition which suits industrials and multinationals while working against small-scale fishing

From our beginnings in 2000 Fish4Ever campaigned against industrial fishing and established a philosophy of Land, Sea and People. Before launching our Hidden Cost of Tuna campaign in 2007. In 2008 Greenpeace campaigned for sustainable tuna, characterising Fish4Ever as a “Global Leader”, awarding us a score of 89%.

In direct response to Greenpeace’s attack on tuna,The WWF, in association with BIG TUNA, the multinational brands of canned fish, formed the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF). One of the first acts of this new organisation was to attack the pole and line fishing which Greenpeace promotes in two “scientific” reports.

Reacting to Greenpeace pressure BIG TUNA brands converted to pole and line sourcing and of course the MSC program Not surprisingly with the pressure to suddenly source lots of pole and line tuna there is a great deal suspicion. In many parts of the sea pole and line boats work together with purse-seiners and catch transfer is a known occurrence

Back in 2009 we saw danger in the rush by big brands to source pole and line so we determined to find rock solid sources. In 2016 the International Pole & Line Federation which promotes artisan fishing (of which we are members) visited the Azores where we buy our Skipjack tuna describing it as the most well monitored pole-and-line fishery in the world.

Since the Greenpeace campaign an unknown scandal has developed whereby more Pole & Line fish is CLAIMED than is FISHED at a rate of 3 for 2

No By-Catch

None of our methods damage the sea floor or habitat and we avoid all known risks, including methods to avoid by-catch and discard

Targeted Methods

Fishing methods need to be thought about. Using pole and line as much as possible, and where not possible, with Sardines for example, tailoring the best equipment for the places and species fished. Saying no to methods that cause damage to the sea floor or habitat, and avoiding all known risks of illegal fishing or of catching juvenile fish or endangered species.

Small Boats First

Supporting small local boats is the way towards true sustainability. Small boats, fishing carefully in extremely precise parts of the sea, only take the right amount of fish, use the best methods, process the fish locally and as a result help rather than hinder the environment and the local community.We choose small boats first and are proud to have the smallest boat in the global tuna industry.

Fishing Locally

Small boats tend to be locally based and tend to fish locally too. This means that more of the business benefit of fishing is passed on to the local community.

On The Hook

Fish4Ever is proud to join NGO’s, campaigners, top professors and authors, including an ex UK Fishery Minister, in supporting the On the Hook campaign.On the hook criticises the MSC for certifying the PNA tuna fishery in the Western Pacific which uses FAD’s that have high levels of by-catch of endangered species and juvenile tun