"Seafood fraud"

Obama calls for a crackdown on "seafood fraud" and illegal fishing

Updated by Brad Plumer on June 17, 2014, 4:10 p.m. ET

On Tuesday, the White House announced a new initiative to crack down on "seafood fraud" and illegal fish sold in the United States.

So what's this all about? In recent years, various studies have found that a surprisingly large amount of seafood sold in the US is either mislabeled or caught illegally. Not only does that mislead consumers, but it's a big problem for countries trying to curtail overfishing. But stopping this can be incredibly difficult.

"Seafood fraud" is surprisingly common in stores

In a 2013 report, the conservation group Oceana tested 1,215 seafood samples sold around the United States and found that 33 percent of them were incorrectly labeled. For instance, DNA testing revealed that 59 percent of fish samples marked as "tuna" were actually something else.

ONE STUDY FOUND THAT 20% TO 32% OF IMPORTED SEAFOOD MAY BE ILLEGALLY CAUGHT

There's also the illegal fishing problem. The United States imports about 90 percent of its seafood from abroad. Ideally, this fish would all come from well-regulated fisheries that aren't being depleted unsustainably.

The reality is a lot murkier. An April 2014 studypublished in Marine Policy estimated that between 20 percent to 32 percent of seafood imported into the United States was possibly coming from illegal, unregulated, or unreported fishing.

The study found that documentation for fish origins was often unreliable, and illicit fish were often mixed in with legal fish at processing plants overseas in places like China. The authors took pains to try to identify the precise origins of different fish imported into the United States and make an estimate based on reported rates of illegal fishing in those fisheries.

Among other things, the study found that about 80 percent of imports came from just ten countries: China, Thailand, Indonesia, Ecuador, Canada, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Mexico, Chile. And some of those countries — particularly China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India — had very high rates of illegal or unregulated fishing.

(For the record, the National Fisheries Institute, a trade association, disputed the study, arguing that the numbers on illegal or unreported fishing were far too high.)

Why seafood fraud is a problem — and hard to get rid of

Drying fish, Ben Da village, near Ho Chi Minh City, Vung Tau peninsula, Vietnam. DeAgostini/Getty Images.

The United States has taken significant steps in recent years to regulate its own fisheries and crack down on overfishing. Other countries have been struggling to follow suit, though — and illegal fishing makes it particularly hard to engage in conservation efforts.

ILLICIT FISHING COSTS THE LEGITIMATE INDUSTRY UP TO $23 BILLION PER YEAR

There are also economics to consider — by some estimates, illicit fishing costs the legitimate fishing industry some $10 billion to $23 billion in sales each year.

Beyond that, Oceana argues that mislabeling can have all sorts of other negative effects. It makes it harder for consumers to take sustainability into account when buying fish. It can also, potentially, have adverse health effects — if, say, fish that are known to be high in mercury are incorrectly labeled.

Still, cracking down is easier said and done. Oceana has called on the US government to set up clear standards that would allow regulators to use technology to track fish every step of the way — from the fishing boat all the way to the store. (See this post by Alexis Petru for more on what that might look like in practice.)

Will that actually happen? It's not yet clear what steps, exactly, the US government will take, although the White House memorandum does direct federal agencies to work "with industry and foreign partners to develop and implement new and existing measures, such as voluntary, or other, traceability programs, that can combat IUU fishing and seafood fraud."

A 2009 report by the Government Accountability Office had found large gaps in US agency efforts to detect and thwart seafood fraud. It remains to be seen if a renewed effort will do any better.

Further reading:

• Also on Tuesday, the Obama administration proposed a massive new marine sanctuary in the Pacific