This Is Where It Gets Complicated...

What makes fish fraud so prevalent is that once a fish has been cleaned, it’s hard to tell what type of fish it is. This makes it nearly impossible for consumers to be completely sure what species of fish they’re buying. This, in turn, leads to a phenomenon I’ve coined fish fraud: the misbranding of seafood products. When tilapia is sold as red snapper, or skate wings served as scallops: That’s fish fraud.

So how long has this been going on?

I think this has probably been going on for ages. It’s basic economic fraud. In order to sell a product, one’s prices must be competitive. But set the prices too low and there’s no net income. So why not cut a few corners and turn a greater profit? It’s the same philosophy behind watering down sports drinks: they taste the same and are sold for the same price, but cost less to produce. So seafood venders try to pass off an inexpensive fish like tilapia as something that can be sold for more.

In 1988, the FDA published “The Fish List”, a set of guidelines for appropriate labeling of fish. In 1993, the list was expanded to include invertebrate species and renamed “The Seafood List”.

“The Seafood List” has each species of fish listed under four identities: the scientific name, the common scientific name, the market name, and the vernacular name.

Let’s look at an example. In a restaurant, you ordered the Sand Dab. This is a vernacular or slang name. A Sand Dab is not a species of fish. What you ordered could be Limanda ferruginea, or Yellowtail Flounder. Those are the fish’s true scientific name and common scientific name, respectively. The FDA approved market name for this fish is Flounder.

Let’s review:
Scientific Name = Common Scientific Name = Market Name = Vernacular Name

Limanda ferruginea = Yellowtail Flounder = Flounder = Sand Dab

So how do you tell exactly what you're ordering? Unfortunately, I doubt your waiter will know whether your Sand Dab is Yellowtail Flounder or American Plaice. But when consumers demand the resources to make more informed decisions about their seafood choices, those resources will be provided. Changes will be made.

For more information about sustainable seafood, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program and the Seafood Choices Alliance.
FishBase is the premier marine database. It cross-references all of a species’ various names.
To see the most common cases of fish fraud, check out this website by the FDA.

Sources: All linked websites
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/Seafood/ucm113260.htm

The Beginning

Every Tuesday, there’s a farmer’s market in Monterey. I often go to gorge myself on seasonal fruits and crepes and caramel apples. Last Tuesday, I was met at the start of the market by a girl in a Greenpeace tee shirt. She asked me to sign a petition asking Trader Joe’s to stop selling red-listed fish species.

I hate to admit this, but I normally just ignore those people. I used to justify it by telling myself I was not a legal adult and my signature wouldn’t count. But now that I’m 18, that excuse doesn’t fly. So when my friends stopped to hear Greenpeace Girl, I did too.

She explained that Trader Joe’s continues to sell red-listed fish, despite urges to stop. In this costal town, fishing is a big industry, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium works very hard to spread the word about good consumer practices and which fish are environmentally sound to purchase. But when companies like Trader Joe’s put red-listed fish in bags of fish nuggets or other unlabeled seafood products, the consumer doesn’t know what he or she is buying. As an environmentally conscious student and lover of the ocean, I had to sign my name. I volunteered to be part of Greenpeace’s student network. I even called an administrator at Trader Joe’s to inform him that until red-listed fish were no longer sold at his store, they would not have my business.

Greenpeace Girl’s work really resonated with me. I’m currently taking a Marine Science class, and my capstone project is centered around the mislabeling of fish. Fish fraud is what I like to call it. That’s when round chunks of ray wing are sold as scallops, or any old salmon is labeled as Copper River King Salmon.

In one study, it was found that in a single day the New York Fish Market was selling more fish labeled Copper River King Salmon than were in the entire Copper River.
So why is this a big deal?

Because retailers are lying.

You may go out and buy some lovely Mahi Mahi for $25 a pound, and what you’re actually getting is Yellowtail that sells for $8 a pound. You may be a conscious consumer, trying to buy fish with low mercury levels that come from sustainable practices. But regardless of whether you're buying a lovely piece of fish or trying to be environmentally concious, are you really getting what the package says?

So, my mission is to educate the masses on this fish market bait and switch. It’s an ambitious goal, but I believe in the power of the internet and the outrage of the deceived consumer.