Seafood fraud and mislabeling are rampant.

Does that bother you?

Maybe, maybe not.

  • Do you make a living in the seafood industry?
  • Do you want to get what you pay for?
  • Or maybe you care about over-fishing and the oceans.

Seafood fraud and mislabeling does affect you.

After all, wouldn’t it be nice to get what you pay for?

Seafood fraud means tilapia instead of snapper, basa instead of grouper, escolar instead of white tuna.

Seafood fraud and mislabeling is wrong on so many levels.

It affects not just the people who work in the industry, but people like me and you.

That’s why on July 26, 2012, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass) introduced a bipartisan bill, the Safety And Fraud Enforcement Act (SAFE Seafood Act, H. R. 6200), to protect American fisherman and consumers.

Rep. Markey was joined by bi-partisan co-sponsors Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) and Bill Keating (D-Mass.) on the bill.

The bill will increase inspections (America imports up to 85% of its seafood), set up new standards about origin, and dole out penalties and fines to offending companies and countries.

Rep. Markey, the Ranking Member of the National Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over oceans and fisheries, stated, “Americans who buy seafood deserve to know that the fish they purchase is what ends up on their plates.”

Amen.

And thank you gentlemen.

Read more about Rep. Markey, SAFE Seafood Act, and seafood fraud and mis-labeling: