Labels on fish give shoppers the whole story
By Paul Rogers, Mercury News
First there were "dolphin-safe" labels on canned tuna. Then organic labels on fruits and vegetables. Now it's seafood.
On Monday, the newest eco-labeling law began requiring supermarkets nationwide to identify which country the fish they sell comes from and whether it is farm-raised or caught wild. The rule applies to most fresh and frozen fish and shellfish, including lobsters, crabs and oysters.
The grocery industry opposed the regulations, included in the farm bill passed by Congress in 2002, saying they create a burdensome and costly bureaucracy that is of little interest to shoppers. Environmental groups, however, say the new rules could represent a major shift that will prompt consumers to boost support for sustainable fishing practices by voting with their pocketbooks.
``We feel this is really a significant step in the right direction of getting people connected with where their seafood comes from,'' said Julie Packard, executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. ``But it is hard to know what to do if it isn't labeled.''
Since 1999, the aquarium has published more than 4 million ``Seafood Watch'' guides that classify fish in categories -- red (avoid), yellow (OK) and green (good) -- based on such factors as whether a species is overfished or the fishing gear used harms other wildlife. Other groups have produced similar guides.
From Chilean sea bass to bluefin tuna, 75 percent of the world's fish stocks are overfished, according to United Nations studies. Some farmed fish, such as salmon from Norway and Canada , can be harmful to ocean health because of waste, escaped foreign species and the need to feed farmed fish with ocean fish.
A study last year in the journal Science found that some farmed salmon have higher levels of PCBs, dioxin and other contaminants than wild salmon, making them possibly harmful to human health as well.
Some groups are using the new labels to gain leverage on other issues.
The Humane Society of the United States , for example, announced Monday that it is asking its 8 million members and other consumers to boycott all fish from Canada , to protest a Canadian government decision to allow hunters to bludgeon to death up to 1 million fur seals.
The new rules are known as ``country of origin labeling,'' or COOL, and are enforced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They affect roughly 37,000 supermarkets nationwide, but not butcher shops, fish markets or restaurants. Violators will face fines of up to $10,000 per incident.
Not covered by the label rules are processed foods, including canned tuna and fish sticks, along with seafood that is cured, smoked or combined with other foods or sauces.
American consumers will see a price increase of less than two-tenths of a cent per pound on affected seafood, according to USDA estimates.
Nevertheless, some grocers say the law means new paperwork and record-keeping.
``In the chain from sea to table, we are the second-to-last stop,'' said Peter Larkin, president of the California Grocers Association, in Sacramento . ``There is no way of looking at a fish and determining where it came from. We have to rely on the suppliers. But we're facing fines.''
Monday, many leading California supermarkets said they had met the deadline.
``If people are concerned about where their seafood is coming from, it will matter,'' said Albertson's spokeswoman Quyen Ha. ``A couple of people here and there ask about it, but not a huge majority.''
Originally, the 2002 Farm Bill required similar labels for nearly all food, including produce, poultry and beef, as a ``buy American'' marketing effort. But after cost complaints from meatpackers and other food processors, Congress delayed the rule for other foods until 2006. American fishing interests, led by Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, pushed for the fish labeling rules to take effect this year.
``Having a better-educated consumer will help fishermen who are trying to do the right thing, and it will put pressure on people who aren't doing the right thing -- like some fish farms -- to clean up their act,'' said Zeke Grader, president of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations in San Francisco.
After TV stations broadcast footage in the 1980s of tuna boat crews killing dolphins in nets, large canned tuna companies began putting ``dolphin safe'' labels on their products and buying only from fishing crews that used nets that didn't kill dolphins. The number of dolphins killed in the Pacific by fishing crews has fallen from 136,000 in 1986 to 4,000 in the past year.
Last year, Robert Moncrieff, of Monte Sereno, a retired pediatrician and fly fisherman, became so concerned about overfishing that he wrote to five large supermarket chains and asked them not to carry certain overfished species. He didn't receive a single reply. Now he hopes the new rules will make a difference.
``I think most people want to do the right thing,'' he said. ``So many people have gone to eating fish. This is a wonderful opportunity to get some education out there.''
|
