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MSU Greenpeace wants MSU Dining Services to change their tuna distributor

November 25, 2014

If MSU Greenpeace gets its way, the university will be changing the way it buys tuna for its dining halls.

The organization has been working for much of the semester to change the tuna distributor MSU Dining Services’ buys its food, MSU media and information sophomore Anna Gustafson said.

Gustafson, a co-chair at MSU Greenpeace, said the school’s dining services currently get their tuna from Starkist, which has “one of the worst records” when it comes to practicing environmentally responsible fishing practices.

She said one of Starkist’s biggest transgressions is using “Fish aggregation devices” as a method to catch fish. Fish aggregation devices are huge dragnets that capture thousands of aquatic animals at a time.

The problem is, many of the animals that get caught up in the gigantic nets are not tuna. Often, these animals are not meant for consumption, but get caught in the nets and die.

“Starkist uses unsustainable fishing options that kill other species unnecessarily and destroy our oceans ecosystems,” Gustafson wrote in a Change.org petition calling to stop the university's support of Starkist, which has gathered around 150 signatures over the span of two weeks.

Associate Director of MSU Culinary Services Marta Mittemaier declined to comment, besides stating in an email that “we have been meeting with MSU Greenpeace students on this topic.”

Deborah Davis, a purchasing expediter at MSU Food Stores said the tuna bought by the school’s dining services makes up “just one small part of what we buy,” adding that she is in charge of buying “lots of fresh fish.”

She declined to comment on where MSU buys its tuna from, but said MSU buys sustainable seafood.

“We buy fish that’s not in limited supply and things like that,” Davis said. “For example, sea bass for many years was not sustainable because they had overfished it, so it was hard to come by. They’ve done practices to rebuild that supply and make it something that can be fished again.”

Gustafson said MSU Greenpeace has a “meeting set up for the week of December 1,” where they will talk further with Dining Service officials regarding making a change.

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