Greenpeace releases bi-lingual red fish guide

Auckland, 30 July 2009 - The Greenpeace Te Aratohu Ika Whero (Red Fish Guide) has been released in a bi-lingual version to celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2009. http://www.greenpeace.org.nz/redlist/RedFishGuide.pdf

The pocket and online guide lists 12 commercially caught seafood species which Greenpeace asks consumers to avoid buying and urges supermarkets to remove from their shelves unless they can guarantee they come from sustainable sources. Since it was first published in english 12 months ago some 40,000 copies have been distributed around the country.

Greenpeace New Zealand oceans campaigner Karli Thomas said the guide was designed to help consumers make an informed choice when buying seafood. The new bi-lingual version would also teach consumers some basic Māori phrases and species names.

"People can take the guide with them for a quick reference when they're buying seafood. It also lists questions they can ask retailers to check their seafood is truly sustainable."

Greenpeace researcher Jessica Hansell said some of the red list species were already known by their Māori name (such as hoki) while several species including toothfish and orange roughy are not officially known in Te Reo Māori.

"The research is pretty interesting surrounding these fish and it helps us remember the kaupapa of the guide, which is the mana of our oceans and all of the life that inhabits it. We should all think about these issues whenever we are at the supermarket."

The guide is part of the Greenpeace Whakaorangia a Tangaroa (Save our Seas) campaign to protect Aotearoa's oceans from overfishing and destructive fishing methods.

"We're trying to protect species like tāmure (snapper) from being overfished commercially so there will be plenty of kaimoana for our future generations," said Hansell.

Greenpeace is also calling for a network of fully-protected marine reserves covering 40 per cent of the world's oceans to safeguard them against the ravages of climate change, restore the health of fish stocks, and protect ocean life from habitat destruction and collapse.

ENDS