The infamous Talley Brothers – now thieving from the environment

ByJohn Minto

Earlier this month I attended a careers day for secondary school students where prospective employers and educational opportunities were on show trying to attract their attention.

There were the usual high sales pitches of dubious quality from private training institutions and various employers such as labour-hire companies.

Amongst the sales pitches was one for Talley’s Fishing.

“A high-pay hands-on 24/7 career” headlines their glossy brochure encouraging young New Zealanders to join the crew of “our modern deepsea and inshore factory vessels”.

Just a few days later a leaked report from the Ministry of Fisheries showed Talley’s as a lying, thieving, environmentally destructive company. Lying to make profits at the expense of the rest of us and our environment.

Here is how TVNZ reported it last week:

The Ministry of Fisheries 2011 report said McDonald’s supplier Talley’s failed to report an estimated 780 tonnes of hoki in one season.

Greenpeace director Russel Norman said such failures meant authorities were not able to accurately set quota levels and the entire hoki stock was at risk of being over-fished.

“It is one of the first big white fish fisheries in the world to get Marine Stewardship Council certification and New Zealand goes around telling the world what a great fishery this is but the truth, as has been revealed by the government’s own secret investigation, is that it’s anything but.”

The report revealed one observer on board a Sanford vessel said the captain gave misleading information about the species they were targeting.

This was so they could fish in an area that was home to juvenile hoki that needed protecting in order to build up future stocks.

Mr Norman said this showed a complete disregard for the health of the fishery.

“It’s a concentration of hoki which has up to 40 percent juvenile hoki but there is also adult hoki in there that they actually want to catch so they target this area in order to get this adult hoki, they pull in all of the hoki, they dump the little ones because they only want the big ones.”

The report showed under-sized fish or those the boats did not have quota for were hidden by being ground in to fish meal for fish and poultry farms.

It said up to 2000 tonnes of fish was disposed of in this way in a single season.

Of course Talley’s says they have changed their ways and no longer tell lies or thieve from the environment. If you believe that you need a cup of tea and a lie down.

I’ve written about these thieving brothers before here and this latest revelation adds to the weight of evidence justifying consumers boycotting their products.

The Talley Brothers are the embodiment of the old saying that “Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all”

All young New Zealanders starting out in life should give these particularly vile New Zealanders a wide berth.

As well as boycotting McDonald’s fish burgers etc, here is a broader list to boycott.

Talley’s products to Boycott

McDonald’s

Fish burgers and other fish products

Talley’s

Icecream (Crème de la Crème, Crème de la Crème Guilt free)

Peas, beans, corn, spinach, carrots, mixed vegetables

Mussels, Talleys retail bags, Ocean Royale retail bags, Oyster Bay, Scallops, Squid bait, Hoki portions AND By Products: Fish Meal, Fish Oil, Fish Fertiliser

Open Country

Milk Powders, Milk Proteins, Milk Fats and Cheese

AFFCO

Lamb, beef, veal, mutton, goat, leather, hides, pelts, calf skins, protein meals, tallow, casings, slipe wool, pharmaceutical blood serums.

 

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12 Comments

    1. Agreed. I’d already stopped buying products which I knew to be Talleys simply because of the way that they treat their staff, and because the Talley character who scored the knighthood appears so revolting.

  2. Attack of the Dastardly Fish Pirates. How dare they. I’m certainly no pirate. Except when I’m a butt pirate. But yarrrr ok , boycott the calf skins… sounds like a plan, good one. You should supervise them in a kayak

  3. Talleys lost my purchasing power for two reasons; one, being they were a huge donor backer for Key and National, and two, more importantly, very bad employers.

    Every time the list of knighthoods comes out, I realise just how degraded the reward has become. Sorry Sir Ed; you were one of the few exceptions.

  4. Nope, no exceptions. Why should people be knighted for doing what they enjoy doing, or for doing something extremely well when other things they probably do extremely badly.
    Knighthoods should be restricted to those who lie, cheat, steal and rob and given by those who lie, cheat, steal and rob.

  5. I started boycotting Talleys products following the introduction of the 1992 Employment Contracts Act and Talleys contempt for workers was revealed.

  6. I’m concerned that – again – there was not a LARGE fine imposed on a business that should have known that their practices were illegal! How come fines work for the rest of us plebs but somehow these poor ol large businesses work better with a little sit down and chat over a nice cup of tea. Maybe I should suggest that if I ever get a parking ticket.

    1. The Talley’s have more money than God, so any fine would be a drop in the ocean for them, and likely provoke a hearty guffaw from all those concerned. What’s more, given their history, they’d probably fight it tooth and nail through the courts… because they’re rich and should be allowed to do whatever they like. Apparently.

      To those poor souls having the profound misfortune to be employed by these collective stains on the underpants of humanity… you have my most sincere condolences.

  7. How far did we get with effective monitoring on fishing vessels?

    Where were the careers advisers for public service careers in marine sciences, and supervision of harvesters?

    Have we progressed with the total protection of estuaries and wetlands for the conservation of spawning grounds?

    Have we ensured that a boycott of Talleys is also effective internationally? Or will there just be an exchange at sea with one of the roaming mother ships that service the slave-staffed fishing fleets in international waters?

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