The Seafood Label Problem Most Shoppers Never Notice

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When you buy seafood at the grocery store,
the label might say something simple.

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Salmon, tuna, cod.

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But those labels often hide more
information than they reveal.

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In many cases, consumers have almost
no idea what species they're actually

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eating or where it came from, and
that lack of transparency has become a

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major issue in global seafood markets.

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This is the How to Protect the Ocean
Podcast, your weekday Ocean news update.

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on the Ocean every weekday, hit

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that follow button right now so
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So the key question today is what
information do seafood labels actually

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provide, and what information is missing?

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That's really the question here.

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So, seafood labeling rules
vary widely in the world.

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In major markets, labels include only
a few pieces of basic information.

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May have like a common market
name, so what you know, cod,

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salmon, tuna, that kind of stuff.

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The country of origin and whether
the seafood was farmed or wild cod.

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But in many cases, the labels don't
include the exact scientific species

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name, which is really, really important.

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We'll talk about that in a second.

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The catch location or the fishing area?

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The fishing method used, and the vessel,
or the fleet that it was caught in.

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So even just like the registration
flag where this vessel was registered.

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Without this information, it becomes
difficult for consumers to understand

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what they're actually buying.

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And the issue becomes even more
complicated because many market names

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represent multiple different species.

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For example, the label snapper
can represent more than 60

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different species worldwide.

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60. The label tuna can refer
to several species with very

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different population statuses.

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The term rockfish includes dozens
of species of the Genus Sybaris.

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Some of these species are
abundant, others are heavily

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fished or under strict management.

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But when they're grouped under one
simple in the market name, consumers

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cannot easily tell the difference.

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It's really difficult.

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Knowing the scientific species
name, you can actually get

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what the common names are.

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So you'll have one species name, which
is like a Latin name, and once you have

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that Latin name, it'll list all the
different, like if I search up Latin

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names in ChatGPT, or even on Google
or Gemini, whatever that might be.

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I don't know what we're
searching in these days.

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If I search a scientific name, you'll get
all the common names that they're commonly

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referred to and you'll see that there are
multiple common names and that just could

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mean the different parts of the world.

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Different countries are found.

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They might have like a Spanish name,
they might have an English name.

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Even within an English name
they'll be called different things

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or known for different things.

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So just having a common name
doesn't necessarily mean that you're

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eating the species you think you're
eating, but having that scientific

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name really brings it to that area.

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Also, the vessel or fleet that caught
the fish, making sure that you know

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what country that vessel or fleet we're
registered to is really important.

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'cause that will tell you whether
that country is known for good

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fisheries practices or not
so good fisheries practices.

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Some countries are known for not
regulating or not managing the illegal,

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unregulated, and unreported fisheries.

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So IUU fishing, which is a big
problem when we look at overfishing.

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And so some countries have a
really bad reputation for that.

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Others have a really good reputation.

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So a lot of the vessels will register
under the countries that do not have a

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good reputation for it, because it's
easier to get away with IUU fishing.

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You get it?

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So that's how it really works.

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So what does the science say?

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Researchers studying seafood supply
chains have repeatedly found that

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the lack of species level labeling
creates major transparency gaps.

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A global analysis of seafood
labeling and traceability found

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that the seafood products often
pass through multiple intermediates.

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So including processors,
distributors, and wholesalers

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before reaching consumers.

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In some cases, after the fishers
catch the fish, they give it to

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somebody like, give it to a company.

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And they actually don't know
where their product is sold.

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That's been documented a number of times,
especially there was one place in North

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Carolina where it was documented, where
the fishers didn't know where it went.

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It got handed off a number of different
times and it would end up in New York or

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end up in Seattle, or end up anywhere.

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But they had no idea who
was buying their fisheries.

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That's why a lot of fishers that are
local have gone to local catch shares

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where people pay into a program and
they will get certain fish out of that,

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they'll get a certain amount of fish out
of that, depending on how much they pay.

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So like if they have a catch
share and you pay like $200, you

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may get $200 worth of fish.

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The Fisher knows who it's
going to locally, which is

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really great for the fisher.

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And the consumer knows who caught it.

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They know their families,
they know everything.

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And it's kind of nice to
have that, that relationship.

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It kind of brings it back home.

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It kind of brings pride
back into the Fishers.

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I'm not a fisher.

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But I know fishermen and fishing
communities have a lot of pride in their

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work, and I'm sure they would wanna see
it go to people that they know and that

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they can know will enjoy their fish.

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So at each step of the supply chain,
information about species identity

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or catch origin can be lost or
simplified into these broad categories.

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So another study examined seafood
labeling in North America and found

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that market names frequently group
multiple species together, making

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it difficult for buyers to know
exactly where they were purchasing.

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This is not necessarily illegal.

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In many cases, it is simply how seafood
regulations were designated decades ago.

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But the result is a
marketplace where species level

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transparency is often missing.

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A solution to that is to update these
regulations, update the marketplace,

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making sure that transparency is
forward thinking in the policy,

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in the regulations, in the law.

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So why does this matter?

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Why do we care from a consumer's point
of view, from my point of view, like

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why am I telling you why labeling is
important and a lack of information

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labeling is not a good thing?

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When seafood is sold under broad
market names instead of specific

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species, several problems emerge.

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First, it becomes harder
to detect seafood fraud.

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If you have the transparency, you know
the species, you know where it's gone

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throughout the entire supply chain, it's
really hard to sell fraudulent seafood

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or even pass on fraudulent seafood.

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Second, fisheries managers have more
difficulty tracking which species

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are actually being sold and consumed.

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And third, consumers who want to make
sustainable seafood choices often do

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not have the information they need.

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A great example is anytime I go to the
supermarket and I ask the person behind

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the counter, and usually it's like,
you know, something like a teenager

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or someone who's just trying to get
their job, trying to get their pay.

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Whether it's minimum wage as
a student or student wage, or

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somebody else's been there forever.

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If they don't know much about the fish,
they don't know where it came from,

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how it was caught, where it was caught,
it makes the process really difficult.

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And to be honest, it shouldn't be
up to the person behind the counter.

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It should be up to the labels
that are on the actual packaging.

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So, for example, two fish labeled
as tuna may come from completely

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different fisheries and completely
different geographies with very

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different environmental impacts.

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But the label does not
always reveal the difference.

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This lack of transparency
creates blind spots across the

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entire seafood supply chain.

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Tomorrow we're gonna look at how
scientists discovered that seafood

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labels are sometimes not just vague.

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They're just sometimes wrong.

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DNA testing has revealed
widespread seafood mislabeling

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in markets around the world.

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We're going to really dive deep
into fraud and the results,

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it may surprise you.

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But if you like this information and you
want to know more, please hit that follow

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button so you don't miss the next episode.

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And if you know someone who may benefit
from this, whether it's another Marine

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biologist or you know, someone who's
really involved in the Ocean, or someone

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who loves seafood and they want to have
more sustainable choices or better pick

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the choices, send this to them right now.

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That's how we get this community larger.

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That's how we get more people
talking about the Ocean.

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'Cause this is the beginning
of a conversation, I would

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love for you to continue it.

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You can give me feedback
or you can have questions,

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comments, or anything like that.

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If you go to speak up for
blue.com/feedback, that's

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speak up for blue.com/speak.

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Feedback, the link is in the show notes.

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If you wanna just click on that, I'd love
to hear what your thoughts are on this.

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I would love to hear your
experiences when you buy seafood

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and do you find it confusing?

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Do you look for labels,
all that kinda stuff.

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Love to hear your thought.

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But until next time, I wanna thank you
for joining me on today's episode of

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the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you next time
and happy conservation.