A report released today by the OCEAN2012 ocean alliance reveals that inferior fish are being marketed and mislabelled as more expensive species - due to stock depletion by overfishing.
According to Markus Knigge, a spokesperson for OCEAN2012: “A great fraud is being committed on an unsuspecting public, fish is being mislabelled and passed off as more expensive or even sustainably caught species.”
And an average increase of 15% in consumption of fish products per year is only adding fuel to the fire.
Pressure to find new sources of fish and to keep making profits may be creating an incentive for the disception – made easier by the fact that most consumers cannot tell the difference between species.
The report found that 28% of all fish labelled as cod in Ireland is not, in Spain, between 31 and 39% of fish labelled as hake is cheaper African Hake, rather than the more expensive European and American varieties.
Interestingly, the report also revealed that from 1999 to 2009, imports of the cheap fish pangasius into the EU increased by more than 100 fold.
OCEAN2012 is dedicated to stopping overfishing and was initiated by the Pew Environment Group. The steering group consists of the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, Ecologistas en Acción, The Fisheries Secretariat and Seas of Risk.
