THE PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION
OF
FISHERMEN'S ASSOCIATIONS
From Fishermen's News of December, 2001
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Home Page Recently the European Union (EU) adopted regulations requiring labeling of all fisheries and aquaculture products. This labeling regulation is intended to strengthen traceability - the ability to trace fisheries products from sea to market and allow consumers to choose their seafood according to specific criteria that might be of concern to them. All fisheries products on sale at retailers will have to be labeled with the following information: the commercial name of the species, the production method (wild or farmed) and the area where the fish was caught. These new regulations will take effect January 2002.
In 1981, PCFFA drafted and sponsored California state legislation by then-State Senator Barry Keene (D-Elk) requiring labeling on domestic and imported seafood similar to the new EU regulations. The fishing groups within PCFFA believed then, and still do, that properly labeled seafood will help those fishermen who are attempting to fish responsibly and bring a good product to market. Why shouldn't our customers know what fish it is they're buying, where it's from, how it was caught and whether it's wild or farmed?
That fishermen-sponsored labeling legislation failed as a result of opposition from the California Restaurant Association and fish importers and processors. Many similar attempts have been scuttled by these same forces since then. The irony, of course, is that distributors were buying and selling fish among themselves whose boxes and packages were fully labeled; the restaurants complaining about having to constantly change their menus if full and accurate labeling of seafood was required were likely the same ones using chalkboards to advertise their daily fish specials. And, today, most top restaurants, thanks to personal computers and printers, change their menus daily. Unfortunately, their protests against labeling, though specious, were effective with legislators.
Now, two decades later, the EU has set the world precedent by the passage of these new labeling regulations. In so doing the EU has focused the public's eye on the present lack of a seafood informational system of any kind in the United States.
It is now time for the U.S. to follow suit and provide a comprehensive seafood labeling system. Failure to do so puts our entire U.S. seafood industry at a huge competitive disadvantage in increasingly important world markets where we must compete with those who have.
Our nation's governmental requirements for labeling are not only limited, but are voluntary and rarely visible. Even if all retailers participate in the current voluntary program, there are still no requirements asking participants to provide information regarding species of fish, where it was caught and how it was caught. Without labeling, consumers are simply unable to make informed personal decisions regarding the seafood they purchase. Many other countries have taken advantage of this lack of standards to flood our domestic markets and capture our world markets with inferior products, such as farm raised Chilean salmon, or with fish caught by methods that would never be allowed under any sensible or sustainable fisheries management controls.
Generally, in comparison with most food products, seafood is poorly labeled. In the case of meats, for example, consumers generally are informed of the species (e.g., turkey, cow) and cut of the meat, and may get information on where the meat was produced or how it was grown (e.g., organic, free-range). In contrast, consumers often do not even know which species of seafood they purchase (e.g., over 100 species are marketed as 'snapper'), nor its origin nor how it was caught.
There is a growing concern among consumers as to the safety, nutritional value, and environmental 'friendliness' of the food they purchase. In response to this movement, some groups have begun to promote eating sustainably harvested seafood as part of an environmentally responsible lifestyle. They have published guides to aid in making environmentally responsible seafood choices. The theory behind these guides is to harness market forces to reward sustainable fisheries and make badly managed fisheries bear some of the true environmental costs of destructive practices, eventually putting sustainable systems out of business.
However, the effectiveness of these guides is hampered by a lack of basic information to support using the recommendations made in these guides. For example, consumers are not able to distinguish one snapper from another. Rockfish (marketed as 'snapper') caught off the California coast using a sustainable and environmentally responsible small hook-and-line setup is labeled the same way as a snapper caught in the Philippines using dynamite. Furthermore, it is usually impossible for consumers to distinguish local from imported products, or wild fish from farm fish.
Mislabeling is also a common problem within the seafood industry. Fish and shellfish are often sold using false names. As a case in point, the endangered Patagonian toothfish is sold in stores and restaurants as Chilean Sea Bass. There are many other incidents of misnomers within the retail sale of seafood, such as skate wings cut and sold as scallops. This lack of basic knowledge of what it is that they are actually eating has rendered informed consumer decision-making nearly impossible based upon the present system. Consumers wishing to make their own decisions regarding health and fishery sustainability are unable to do so accurately. The end result is often that consumers turn away from eating all seafood, hurting carefully managed and sustainable fisheries the most. There is a clear need for accurate informational labeling to correct these problems.
Informational labeling does not render any judgment on the sustainability of the product or the impact that its harvest has on the environment. Fundamentally it is purely a label to accurately indicate to the seafood consumer its (1) species, (2) where it was caught, and (3) by what means it was caught. Today, probably more than any time in history, the public wants information about its food and particularly its fish. This is verified by chefs, restaurant and market owners who also are looking for answers for themselves and for their customers.
Sustainability of fisheries has already reached high public awareness in this country through the growing popularity of these seafood guides and such efforts as Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) eco-labeling program. These programs, although still in their infancy and still incomplete and inconsistent, have been developed in order to inform consumers about those fisheries that are sustainable and those that are not. To accomplish this purpose will require reconciling both the various conflicting and often subjective definitions of 'sustainable,' but more fundamentally requires that information about the method, harvest location and species exist in the first place and are clearly shown on some type of mandatory label.
In order for seafood guides to work at all, for instance, consumers need to know the specific species of the seafood they are considering to purchase. In the guide published by the Monterey Bay Aquarium (by far the most comprehensive of the current guides) for example, specific species are listed according to "best choices," "proceed with caution," and "avoid." These categories are defined in order to support fisheries that are managed sustainably, resulting in little bycatch and minimal environmental impact. The goal of this and other guides is to economically promote sustainability of fisheries in consumer decisions. Accurate informational labeling of seafood, however, is the essential foundation of these efforts. Informational labeling, such as that passed by the European Union, is needed to arm the consumer with the knowledge of what the product really is, where it came from, and how it was caught or produced (i.e., wild or farmed). Without this information, however, the overall effectiveness of any seafood guide is greatly diminished, the public will remain in confusion and the end result will be very negative.
Even without environmental considerations, informational labeling can also be used by the consumer to make decisions on whether or not to buy locally caught seafood. We believe this will generally benefit local fleets and local fishing communities, help us recapture local markets from foreign imports, and be a great public relations tool to promote local support. Time and time again it has been shown that the public want to support local fishermen over foreign imports.
Full and accurate informational labeling of seafood is the only way to maintain the integrity of such efforts and to maintain our world markets. The quality of US seafood is second to none and we have nothing to fear by letting consumers know that. Accurate information on the products they eat is also what consumers increasingly demand as a fundamental consumer right-to-know. As an industry, we would be very foolish and short-sighted indeed if we did not listen to and respond to these demands.
Finally, remember, full and accurate seafood labeling, along with well-researched and accurate consumer seafood guides, is not just good for consumers - ultimately it will be good for conscientious fishermen. After all, if we are held to the toughest environmental standards to assure sustainable and responsible fishing practices, if we are catching and landing fish pursuant to the highest hygienic and health standards, if we are harvesting fish that have not been fed antibiotics and coloring agents, that did not come from net pens treated with pesticides, that did not pollute the environment or spread disease in the wild or cause the introduction of invasive species, then why not let the consumer know it? The only way the consumer would be able to follow a seafood guide is with accurate labeling, and the only way a consumer can discern a top quality product we produce, sustainably and responsibly, from whatever else is in the market is through full and accurate seafood labeling. Full and accurate labeling will help create for us a "level playing field" in the marketplace.
The consumer needs good labeling; we need good labeling. It's time to act. The consumer and fishermen also need accurate and consistent seafood guides to properly inform their decisions.
PCFFA's sister organization, the Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR), has started a campaign to increase the public's awareness on the issue of seafood labeling as well as to promote rational and uniform scientific standards for such labeling. For more information on what IFR is doing please contact Natasha Benjamin at (415) 561-3474 or ifrfish@pacbell.net.
Natasha Benjamin, Nicole Brown, Allison Vogt are all staff members of the Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR), which is closely affiliated with the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA). IFR can be reached at its Southwest Regional Office at: PO Box 29196, San Francisco, CA 94129-0196 or by phone to: (415)561-3474; or the Northwest Office at: PO Box 11170, Eugene, OR 97440-3370 or by phone to: (541)689-2000. IFR's home page is: http://www.ifrfish.org.