To defend a Chesapeake tradition, we need traceable seafood

As the world’s second-largest market for imported seafood, a majority of the seafood Americans eat comes from places such as China, Thailand and Indonesia. In these countries, a lack of domestic regulations and international enforcement provides a hotbed for illegal fishing. Without proper traceability, tracking seafood from the fishing vessel to our dinner plates, many of these illegally caught fish are allowed to enter, and lead to profits, in the American market. Though the United States has some of the strongest fishing regulations in the world, our efforts are undermined when illegally caught or mislabeled fish enters the U.S. seafood supply chain.

{mosads}By misrepresenting seafood products, seafood fraud creates a market for these illegally caught fish. Seafood fraud can range from adding ice to tip the scales in favor of the seller to blatantly mislabeling species or falsifying documents. Seafood fraud not only parades imported and sometimes illegally caught seafood as local, but also inflates the price for consumers, prevents a consumer from making sustainable seafood choices and negatively impacts the economy of local fishermen and processors.

Earlier this month, Oceana revealed the rampant mislabeling of the iconic blue crab. A ubiquitous symbol of the Chesapeake Bay region, the fraudulent sale of substitutes in place of this species is a prime example how seafood fraud harms local economies. Chesapeake Bay crabbers deliver the real thing, but they are competing against less-desired imposters whose sellers are vying for our seafood dollars. Though seafood fraud can occur at any point in the supply chain, an examination of import data suggests much of the crab arrives mislabeled at the border. Like many of the tourists and locals in the Chesapeake region, Oceana sought to purchase crab cakes made from local blue crabs in Maryland and Washington, D.C. But our DNA testing revealed that 38 percent of the crab cakes were mislabeled, all containing entirely different crab species not found anywhere near the Chesapeake — shipped into the region from either the Indo-Pacific region or the Mexican Pacific coast.

The blue crab fishery is the most profitable fishery in Maryland, supporting thousands of local watermen who catch crab using cleaner gear such as trotlines or crab pots. But many of the substitutes, like the swimming crab from the Indo-Pacific region, are often caught using destructive fishing gear and are sometimes harvested illegally. In fact, nearly half of the species found in the crab cakes we tested are listed as species to avoid on sustainable seafood guides — blue crab is not. So how can a consumer make a sustainable choice as long as this fraud continues? By knowingly or unknowingly substituting imported crab, seafood fraud jeopardizes the livelihood of local fishermen and processors and prevents consumers from selecting sustainable seafood.

When seafood fraud occurs, the customer not only pays a premium for a possibly inferior product, but also is denied the ability to make informed choices about the food he or she is eating. As the final point on the supply chain, the diner incurs the cost of seafood fraud both ways.

To protect the integrity of the Maryland crab cake, as well as the livelihoods of responsible American fishermen, restaurants and consumers, we need traceability requirements for our seafood. This should include the collection and availability of key information such as species name, and where and how the seafood was caught, in order to follow seafood throughout the entire supply chain.

Last month, a presidential task force announced its plans to crack down on illegal fishing and seafood fraud by requiring traceability for high-risk species to the first U.S. sale, with the hope of eventually expanding to full-chain traceability for all seafood. The transition to comprehensive full-chain traceability needs to be swift to allow consumers to get the products they are paying for and to allow fishermen and seafood businesses to compete fairly in this international market. Requiring better transparency and comprehensive traceability will help ensure that all seafood sold in the U.S. is safe, legally caught and honestly labeled.

Savitz is the vice president for U.S. oceans at Oceana.