Tuna trading CLOSED!
“Ladies and Gentlemen your attention please: the Dong Won, Mitsubishi, Moon Marine, Azzopardi and Ricardo Fuentes stalls are now closed.” And they were. It felt great knowing that the ever so slightly familiar voices coming airport style over the audio soundsystem were speaking the truth. We did it. Shut down the stalls of 5 companies – including the world’s biggest tuna supplier (Mitsubishi) - driving the global tuna crisis.
So it was business closed for these tuna suppliers. Not just that but the ensuing chaos – including overwhelmed police blocking the way meant entire halls stopped trading for much of the day.
I was impressed by the scale of the plans, but couldn’t help but wonder which action would not work out – which would have to be dropped from the press release. It was incredible to get the call telling me that it had ALL – from occupying the pond, to closing down the stalls to getting our messages onto the PA, to hanging the giant banner – gone off.
I remember an oceans campaigner telling me once about the Expo “It’s unbelievable, these guys are literally selling ocean destruction, neatly packaged in arty displays.” It didn’t take long to walk around to confirm this. 1800 stalls over a massive exhibition centre - fish, fish, fish everywhere.
That’s why this direct action was so good. Stopping the tuna from being traded = stopping an environmental crime from being committed.
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