More fake fish on the market
- Kate Wing
- NRDC alum
- Blog | About
- Posted January 4, 2008 in Reviving the World's Oceans
Florida is taking one of the most aggressive stances in the U.S. on truth-in-fish labelling and their latest sting caught a number of impostor groupers. People want to eat a fish they know by name, not weakfish or sea bream, two of the species found masquerading as grouper. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with eating sea bream, but we don't just eat what we know, we manage what we know. And if you're a fish that's not getting name checked at restaurants, chances are you're not making it into a fisheries management plan and thus we're not counting you.
Kudos to Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson for the Department's "Is it really Grouper?" website which includes not only photos of grouper filets but also how much you should expect to pay for real grouper at a market or restaurant. Just like that $20 bag on the street probably isn't Prada, that $5 grouper sandwich probably ain't grouper.
In the interest of furthering your grouper education: grouper are slow growing reef fish. Many Epinephelus species are also sex changers, starting as females and becoming males later in life. The Goliath grouper can weigh as much as 800 pounds and live to be in its thirties. It's a protected species, meaning you can't fish it at all, a fact one Goliath grouper may have figured out on its own.
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Comments
Joseph O'Sullivan — Jan 5 2008 01:54 AM
In the ignorance is bliss and what I don't know can't hurt me categories, could this harm the groupers?
Wouldn't it be better to not say anything about the substitutes so pressure would be taken off the overfished groupers?
Kate — Jan 11 2008 12:17 PM
Joseph, if you're saying we should only allow real grouper to be sold as grouper, then I completely agree. Allowing, say, skate wings to be sold as scallops (which is legal in some states) fools the consumer into thinking (1) they know what they're eating and (2) there must be plenty of scallops, since here they are on your plate.
Joseph O'Sullivan — Jan 11 2008 05:31 PM
Kate, my earlier comment was a passing thought.
From the consumer protection angle I agree 100% that only grouper should be labeled grouper. I was wondering if people did not know it wasn't grouper, they would happily eat it and not ask for more real grouper. This could possibly shift fishing pressure from groupers to other fisheries that were better able to handle the pressure.
Your response makes me think again. If people see only honestly labeled grouper they would would be able to understand that the high prices are the result of rarity and this rarity is a result of overfishing. Combining the campaign to correctly label grouper with a campaign to show the need for better fishery management could result in broad support for conservation. If public thinks that grouper is cheap and widely available they are much more likely to question effective fishery management.
The example of skate is the opposite situation where scallops populations can survive fishing pressure are being substituted for skates which can not survive fishing pressure.
Thanks for your thoughtful response.