Saving Seafood

Efforts underway to ensure ‘Alaskan’ seafood is authentic

November 11, 2015 — As a result of international tracking difficulties, seafood marketed as “Alaskan” is often anything but, sparking legislative calls to make the Alaska label a privilege, not a right.

Wild-caught Alaska seafood is marketed as sustainable and healthy for local economies, strong selling points for the modern U.S. consumer. The labels aren’t always accurate, however, as pirate fishing and outright fraud often put foreign or untracked seafood under the Alaska banner.

International agreements and national legislation aim to impose more stringent tracking requirements for seafood landings, which are often the root of mislabeled fish. Other legislation simply pushes for marketing changes to make sure the label “Alaska” means what it says.

Marketing and international traceability issues haunt Alaska pollock, crab, and salmon, the largest and most valuable of Alaska’s federal and state fisheries.

In Congress, Rep. Don Young and Rep. Jaime Beutler, R-Wash., introduced legislation on Oct. 22 to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to change the term “Alaska pollock” to “pollock.”

According to a GMA Research consumer report, up to 40 percent of what is currently sold as “Alaska pollock” is in fact from Russia waters, which do not have the same controls and management frameworks as U.S. North Pacific fisheries governed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, particularly concerning marine habitat protections and preventing overfishing.

Pollock is the largest fishery in the U.S., producing 2.9 billions pounds and accounting for 11 percent of U.S. seafood intake. In the North Pacific management region, pollock accounted for $406 million worth of landings.

Read the full story at Alaska Journal of Commerce

 

Congress cracks down on seafood fraud

October 28, 2015 — Local watermen of the Chesapeake Bay have come under attack from knowingly imported and mislabeled foreign seafood. Consumers are also at risk because safety standards for seafood in other countries of origin differ from those in the United States. “Consumers should protect themselves with knowledge about these issues and get to know local seafood companies they can trust,” said Paula Jasinski, executive director of Chesapeake Environmental Communications.

Crabbers from Virginia’s Blue Crab Industry Panel highlighted this significant problem for their industry several years ago.

Read the full story at Northern Neck News

 

Congressman Young Takes Up Misleading Pollock and Crab Labeling Fight in U.S. House

October 22, 2015 — WASHINGTON – The following was released by the Office of Congressman Don Young:

Alaska Congressman Don Young and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) today introduced bipartisan legislation to change the market name of “Alaska pollock” to “pollock.” The bill would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to eliminate confusion for consumers, and stem the flood of mislabeled fish from less sustainable fisheries that harms U.S. pollock fishermen and the businesses they support.

Under current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling standards, pollock caught in any part of the world can label be labeled as “Alaskan pollock.” Approximately 40% of the fish labeled “Alaskan pollock” available to American consumers is caught in the Russian pollock fishery.

“The U.S. fishing industry and the American consumer deserve this commonsense change to the pollock name,” said Congressman Don Young. “There’s no reason why foreign caught pollock should be disguised as Alaskan, especially given the significant management efforts we’ve taken in the North Pacific to create the most sustainable fishery in the world. No other nation can replicate the quality and care we put into Alaskan seafood and the FDA’s labeling standards should reflect that. Unfortunately, an Act of Congress is the only immediate way to keep foreign caught pollock from degrading our U.S. seafood markets.”

“Americans want to know where their food is coming from. This bill will give American consumers more transparency by closing this FDA loophole that allows Russian pollock from Chinese processors to flood our markets under the label ‘Alaskan pollock,’” said Rep. Herrera Beutler. “If a mom in Vancouver wants to purchase fish caught sustainably and packaged truthfully, she should have that choice. With this legislative fix, we’re also ensuring that pollock fishing and processing businesses located in Southwest Washington and throughout the U.S. aren’t having to compete with deceptively labeled products from far less sustainable fisheries.”

A consumer survey conducted by GMA Research revealed that:

  • 77% of participants said that if they saw seafood labeled as “Alaska Pollock,” they would think the seafood is harvested in Alaska.
  • 81% of participants said they would feel misled if they purchased seafood labeled as “Alaska pollock” and found out it was harvested from somewhere else.

The Alaskan pollock fishery is the nation’s largest food fishery in the United States, producing 1.3 million tons annually and accounting for 11 percent of American fresh and frozen fish intake. The Alaskan pollock fishery is carefully managed for sustainability, safety and environmental impact.

The bipartisan legislation also works to resolve an outstanding nomenclature petition to the FDA, filed by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) and the Alaska Golden King Crab Coalition in 2014, to change the Brown King Crab name (considered obsolete and sometimes confusing in U.S. markets) to the acceptable market name of Golden King Crab.

Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA).

Read the release here

 

Senator Murkowski Introduces Legislation Requiring Label Change to Remove Misrepresentation

September 17, 2015 — The following was released by the Office of Senator Lisa Murkowski: 

Today Senator Lisa Murkowski introduced bipartisan legislation with Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to change the market name of “Alaska pollock” to “pollock”. The change aims to better distinguish the pollock harvested in Alaskan waters from Russian pollock passing itself off as “Alaskan pollock” in stores nationwide.

In 2012, 113 million pounds of Russia’s pollock were sold to U.S. consumers as “Alaska pollock.” Murkowski believes the labeling move is necessary because Alaska’s fisheries are far more rigorously managed than Russian waters.

“Alaska is known world-wide for our top quality seafood. When consumers seek out the words, ‘Alaska, wild-caught’ at the grocery store, they shouldn’t be deceived by what they are actually getting,” said Senator Murkowski. “The change in nomenclature is necessary to avoid ongoing misrepresentation of the origin of pollock that is purchased and consumed in the U.S.”

This bill also makes a similar change to golden king crab, which has met the same problems in the market as pollock.

The Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) support Murkowski’s efforts and have previously cited several reasons for the requested change:

  • The use of “Alaska pollock” as an acceptable market name is misleading to consumers;
  • “Alaska pollock” is understood by consumers to connote a geographic origin, not a particular kind of food from any geographic origin;
  • The use of “Alaska pollock” as an acceptable market name is inconsistent with other similar fish species; and
  • U.S. government programs support other efforts to provide accurate information to consumers about the seafood they purchase.

Background: The bill is the result of a long standing effort to get the FDA to change the name. Senator Murkowski has reached out to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) multiple times to push for the market name to be changed, including writing a letter to the FDA Commissioner this past May.

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