One Fish, Two Fish, That’s-Not-What-I-Ordered Fish! - Oceana USA
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October 7, 2011

One Fish, Two Fish, That’s-Not-What-I-Ordered Fish!

Editor’s note: October is National Seafood Month, and to celebrate, we’ll be featuring a series of blog posts about seafood, sustainable fishing, and health. Today we’ll be focusing on seafood fraud.

Seafood fraud is the practice of misleading consumers about seafood and its origins for financial profit—and it happens as to as much as 70 percent of some types of fish. 

Fraudulent information can include where and how the fish was caught, or even what kind of fish it is. Seafood producers can benefit from fraud by labeling cheaper fish as a more expensive kind or by covering up illegal fishing practices that would otherwise make their fish impossible to sell.

But seafood fraud hurts consumers, and not just by ripping them off. People with seafood allergies could unknowingly eat fish that gives them a nasty reaction. Fraudulent fish can be tropical species with a disease called ciguatera, which can cause serious symptoms like pain, nausea, cramps, and reversed temperature sensations.

And seafood fraud wreaks havoc on conservation efforts. Mislabeling allows endangered species into the market and can hide fishing methods that hurt and kill other marine life, like sea turtles and dolphins.

How can you avoid being a victim of seafood fraud?  Processed fish is more likely to be fraudulent, so look for packages with the most detailed information about when, where, and how fish were caught.  Whole fish are more difficult to disguise than fillets—take our online seafood fraud quiz to learn how similar fillets can look.

We’re working every day to reduce seafood fraud, and you can help by asking your senator to pass legislation to curb seafood fraud.