Seafood Fraud
Overview
Oceana fights seafood fraud so that consumers know that their seafood is safe, legally caught, responsibly sourced, and honestly labeled.
What is Seafood Fraud?
Seafood fraud is any number of ways that fish is misrepresented, from selling one species as another, misrepresenting the weight of the seafood by adding ice or shortweighting, and falsifying origin information. Oceana’s campaigning focuses on species substitution.
Why Seafood Fraud is Bad
Seafood fraud cheats consumers who don’t get what they pay for, and it undercuts the income of fishermen and businesses that play by the rules. Seafood fraud puts public health and the oceans in jeopardy. It’s harmful to fish populations, as protected fish can be mislabeled as legal catch so they can be sold.
The Ecological Impact of Seafood Fraud
Seafood fraud undermines conservation efforts by making illegal fishing profitable. Mislabeling seafood can disguise fish caught or raised with fishing or farming methods that are illegal or harmful to the environment. For example, overfished species like Atlantic halibut can be sold as more abundant varieties like Pacific halibut. And swordfish labeled as being from the U.S. fishery may actually have been caught elsewhere with destructive fishing gear that catches many more threatened or endangered sea turtles.
The Health Impacts Of Seafood Fraud
Swapping one fish species for another can expose consumers to fish that may be riddled with contaminants, toxins, or allergens.
For example, ciguatera — a form of food poisoning that used to be limited to tropical regions — is now frequently imported along with large reef fish being mislabeled as other species. Ciguatera’s symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, numbness, blurred vision and even reverse temperature sensation — where hot feels cold and vice versa—and can last for weeks or months.
Farmed fish passed off as wild fish can carry antibiotics and dyes used in aquaculture pens. Farmed salmon often contains high levels of contaminants, requiring the use of antibiotics that lead to the spread of drug-resistant bacteria in other species.
In a past investigation, Oceana found tilefish mislabeled as red snapper and halibut, and king mackerel mislabeled as grouper; tilefish and king mackerel are on the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s “Do-Not-Eat” list for sensitive groups such as pregnant women and children because of their high mercury content.
Seafood Fraud In Restaurants And Markets
In 2018, Oceana collected more than 400 samples of fish from over 250 restaurants, grocery stores and smaller markets in 24 states and the District of Columbia. DNA testing found that one in five of the fish tested were mislabeled, and one-third of the establishments we visited sold mislabeled seafood. In many cases, imported seafood was sold as a local favorite, fooling consumers into thinking their seafood was locally sourced. Vulnerable species, such as Atlantic halibut, were sold as more sustainable catch.
In Oceana’s investigation, fish sold as sea bass and snapper had the highest rates of mislabeling (55% and 42%, respectively), followed by halibut (26%), flounder (22%), sole (21%), lobster (8%), catfish (7%), and scallop (6%).
Oceana’s seafood fraud report, published in 2019, corroborated earlier findings in investigations we conducted in New York City, South Florida, Los Angeles, and Boston, and a national report released in 2013. Oceana also tested shrimp, salmon, and blue crab with similar results.
How to Reduce Seafood Fraud
The Seafood Import Marketing Program
In January 2016, the federal government launched the Seafood Import Marketing Program (SIMP), requiring that some imported seafood be subject to the same catch reporting requirements as domestically caught fish. The program also requires that fish can be traced from the point of catch or farm to the U.S. border. Today, SIMP only includes 13 species and species groups, and traceability is not required once fish enter the U.S.
Oceana recommends that SIMP be expanded, requiring catch documentation showing when, where, and how a fish was caught or farmed for all seafood, up to the final point of sale, and that fish be traced from boat to plate.
Requiring Accurate Naming
Seafood labels often use vague market names, including those that cover numerous species. For example, the FDA allows 58 different species of fish to be sold as “snapper.” Nineteen different species can be labeled “sea bass” or “seabass.” Generic names, as well as made-up ones used to boost marketability, can mask species-specific differences in conservation status.
Oceana advocates for mandating the use of species-specific names throughout the entire seafood supply chain to provide consumers with more information about the seafood they eat so they can make more informed decisions whether for conservation, health, or other reasons.
Reports and Fact Sheets
More About Seafood Fraud
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