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R e s t a u r a n t D a i l y N e w s 7 5 S u n d a y, M a y 1 7 , 2 0 1 5 PRESIDENTIAL TASKFORCE RELEASES RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FIGHTING SEAFOOD FRAUD, PIRACY By Lucas Witman In the waning weeks of 2014, the White House announced that a federal taskforce assigned to develop recommendations for how the United States might best combat the dual problems of seafood piracy and fraud had concluded its investigation into these complex issues. The taskforce, con- vened by President Obama in June, spent six months studying a problem that experts argue costs the international seafood industry between $10 billion and $23 billion annually, in addition to detri- mentally impacting both consumers and global fish stocks. Led by Kathy Sullivan, an administrator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the taskforce combined the efforts of 14 gov- ernment agencies in the shared objective of curbing these twin concerns. In terms of overall financial impact, perhaps the most significant problem hindering the global seafood industry today is the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing of the world's oceans. According to NOAA, the United States currently imports approximately 90 percent of the fish that is consumed in this country from foreign suppliers. It is estimated that as much as 32 percent of this seafood (by weight) is fished illegal- ly. International laws are in place to ensure the long term sustainability of fish stocks and to protect global food securi- ty. However, economic incentive (a sin- gle Patagonian Toothfish, banned in the United States, often goes for as much as $1,000 in the current market) is driving seafood pirates to illegally harvest over- fished species. In addition to IUU fishing, the seafood industry today is plagued by the dual problem of seafood fraud. According to international ocean conservation organization Oceana, seafood consumers today are often misinformed about pre- cisely what it is that they are eating. Oceana estimates that as much as 70 per- cent of seafood on American restaurant menus and behind retail fish counters may be mislabeled. The organization identifies red snapper, wild salmon and Atlantic cod as among the most common- ly mislabeled fish, often substituted with cheaper and more readily available prod- ucts. Seafood fraud is not only impacting consumers by causing them to pay higher prices for lesser quality seafood, it can also be threatening to human health, mis- leading consumers into unknowingly eat- ing a species that may be contaminated with mercury or other contaminants. In addition, fraud inhibits consumers from being able to make eco-friendly decisions about what fish they choose to eat. It is necessary for authorities to tack- le the problems of IUU fishing and seafood fraud in tandem, in part because these two illegal activities feed into one another. Illegally caught seafood often makes its way into the American market by being mislabeled as perfectly legal products. Thus, by curbing pirate fishing and ceasing the importation of illegally fished animals into this country, con- sumers are more likely to be offered properly labeled seafood. Concomitantly, by carefully monitoring seafood being sold in this country for fraud, it will help authorities identify and prosecute those engaged in the enterprise of IUU fishing. "We are concerned about both [seafood fraud and IUU fishing], but the solutions are similar," said Beth Lowell, Seafood Fraud Campaign Director for Oceana. "Seafood fraud allows for IUU- caught fish to be laundered into the legal market. Both seafood mislabeling and IUU fishing can be stopped by the same types of solutions." A casualty of IUU fishing in foreign seas, America's domestic fishing industry is being crippled by this illegal practice. The overall economic impact of the U.S. fishing industry is estimated at $90 bil- lion, annually, and the industry supports over 1.5 million jobs. Companies that are engaged in IUU fishing can significantly cut their operating costs and raise profits, thus enabling them to undercut those who choose to fish legally. The result is a potential loss of American jobs and a hit to this country's economy. "IUU fishing and seafood fraud really hurt domestic fishing, because [American fishers] are competing in a market with illegally caught seafood. That puts fisher- men at a disadvantage," said Lowell. She points to the American market for red snapper as a particularly apt illustration of the deleterious impact seafood fraud can have on U.S. fishers. In a recent Oceana study, only seven out of 120 red snapper samples tested were in fact the real thing – just 13 percent. "If you're a red snapper fisherman, you're putting your product into a market that is watered down by things that are not actually red snapper. Red snapper fishermen should be making a lot more money," said Lowell. For the average American consumer, the issue of seafood fraud is likely to be a more direct concern than that of IUU fishing. In 2011, Consumer Reports con- ducted DNA testing of a variety of fish species purchased at local grocery stores and found the problem of mislabeled seafood a pervasive one. Only four of 14 samples of Chilean sea bass, coho salmon, bluefin and ahi tuna tested were found to be properly labeled. All 10 fish labeled as lemon sole and 12 of 22 fish labeled as red snapper were not what they claimed to be. And one fish labeled as grouper was actually found to be tilefish, a species known to contain dangerous levels of mercury. Consumer Reports also identified discrepancies with catfish, grey sole, halibut, King salmon, Sockeye salmon and Yellowfin tuna. Last year, Oceana conducted exten- sive testing of one of the most popular seafood items sold in American restaurants and grocery stores: shrimp. The organiza- tion found an alarming degree of fraud. After conducting DNA testing of 143 shrimp samples gathered from 111 grocery stores and restaurants, the organization found 30 percent to be misrepresented. "We kept hoping that every time we did a seafood study, we would stop find- ing seafood mislabeling. That hasn't hap- pened. It really indicated that we need to change the way we look at seafood label- ing in the United States," said Lowell. With many American favorite seafood items currently overfished or in danger of being so, it is necessary that consumers make intelligent, informed decisions about the fish they choose to consume if global fish stocks are to be maintained at sustainable levels. Of course, this is impossible to accomplish if consumers have no idea about precisely what it is they are being sold. According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, an expert source on seafood sustainability and the organization behind the popular Seafood Watch® program, fish that should be avoided as unsustainable include Pacific cod, mahi mahi, orange roughy, imported shrimp, swordfish and Bluefin and Yellowfin tuna. These are all fish that have been found misrepresented in the American seafood market. Still, Oceana continues to look at the sea with optimism, believing that, with proper management, fish populations can return to the sustainable, harvestable lev- els where they once stood. "Fisheries are a resource, and fisheries can rebuild and get to levels where we could have seafood forever. We really need to have a global system where people fish by the rules," said Lowell. "If you save the oceans, we can feed the world, but we have to make sure that people are playing by the rules." Adding to the challenge of combat- ing IUU fishing and seafood fraud is the fact that U.S. federal investigators have been stretched to the limit by shrinking budgets and limited personnel. Although President Obama announced a crack- down on illegal fishing and seafood mis- labeling in 2014, the number of skilled expert investigators at NOAA is down, casting doubt on exactly how much the U.S. government is actually prioritizing these concerns. With the recent December release by the Presidential Task Force on Combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing and Seafood Fraud of its recom- mendations for confronting these issues, the federal government has committed itself to stepping up its enforcement game. The report contains 15 specific rec- ommendations divided into four larger themes. First, the taskforce recommends strengthening enforcement efforts by increasing the resources devoted to the inspection of seafood imports. Second, the United States is urged to explore diplomatic and trade-related responses to IUU fishing. Third, the federal govern- ment must pursue expanded partnerships with state and local governments and other non-governmental organizations, where affected parties can combine their efforts. And finally, the taskforce recom- mends that the federal government devel- op a "risk-based traceability program" for tracking imported seafood from the point- of-harvest to the point-of-entry into the United States. Lowell and the team at Oceana are thrilled by the progress that is currently being made at the federal level toward protecting the world's oceans. "The President's and the administration's com- mitment to this seem real and strong. We believe that we have many of the tools that we already need under our fisheries management, food safety and illegal wildlife trading laws. What the President's taskforce is doing is putting all of these people in a room that don't always work together but should," said Lowell. "I hope that when these final rec- ommendations come out and we see how they're implemented, federal agencies can craft a plan that helps consumers, helps the oceans and helps the industry." The efforts by the White House- assembled taskforce do not represent the only government response to the major challenges facing the global and domes- tic seafood industries today. The Food and Drug Administration is already hard at working developing its own response to the encroaching problem of seafood fraud. The FDA first established its Guide to Acceptable Market Names for Seafood Sold in Interstate Commerce in 1993, and the agency recently began DNA testing to ensure that fish for sale are not being mislabeled. The FDA col- lects samples from wholesale distribu- tors, testing them before the product reaches the point-of-sale. The goal of this testing is to help guide future enforce- ment and education efforts and ultimate- ly protect consumers against fraud. The federal government is also doing its part to protect domestic fish stocks and promote sustainability when it comes to the U.S. domestic fishing industry. In November, for example, the NOAA banned fishing for cod in most of the waters off of the Northeast coast of the United States until at least May of 2015. The move was made in response to dimin- ishing stocks of the once populous fish. For the past two years, the NOAA has in fact placed catch limits on every species it manages, making the United States the first country in the world to do so. As the U.S. government struggles to come to grips with a problem that is, by all accounts, out of control and, for the moment, unmanageable, it becomes the responsibility of the retailer, the restaura- teur and, ultimately, the consumer to pro- tect against seafood fraud and reject ille- gally caught fish. Many of those purchas- ing fish are doing their best to trace the product from sea-to-plate, developing relationships with trusted fishers. Some restaurateurs and chefs at notable seafood establishments are reportedly going so far as to reject imported seafood altogether. According to Lowell, seafood retail- ers are in a unique position to serve an important role in combating the dual problems of seafood fraud and piracy. By demanding complete "bait-to-plate trans- parency" from wholesalers, retailers can help protect the seas at the point-of-sale. "Retailers are a key to putting some of these recommendations into action. They can ask for more documentation [from the supplier] and provide consumers more information on how the fish was caught and what species it is. They can be educators," said Lowell. Lowell argues, however, that the consumer him or herself can also play a vital part in this struggle. "Where you buy seafood isn't going to feel like it needs to provide answers until con- sumers start asking questions: What species is this? How was it caught? Where was it caught?" Lowell said. "Asking questions is the number one thing. If a person can't answer it, maybe you should purchase something else from that retailer."