December 17, 2010
World Wild Fund to remove Vietnam's pangasius fish from red list
The World Wild Fund (WWF) agreed that the Vietnamese pangasius fish was wrongly placed on its 2010/11 consumer red list, adding that it will remove the fish at once from the list.
Mark Powell, head of the WWF International Global Seafood Program, has admitted WWF made a mistake. He also pledged to remove the fish right away from the red list and encourage European consumers to continue buying the fish.
The WFF representative officially admitted responsibility, saying that it was his fault for announcing the inaccurate information.
Faced with strong evidence and convincing arguments from Vietnam, WWF's Mark Powell agreed to switch the fish to the list titled "On the way to sustainable development". He also promised to help Vietnam get the fish onto the list of "Sustainable development".
After the meeting, Mark Powell and other five WWF representatives were invited to visit some pangasius breeding farms in Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.
As scheduled, WWF representatives will meet with Vietnam representatives again today to seek an agreement in making pangasius fish a product of sustainable development on the world market.
Last week, WWF released its red list in six European countries calling for consumers to avoid the Vietnam-produced pangasius fish as the fund argued Vietnam's rapidly growing catfish industry was damaging the environment and endangering food safety.