What can we as consumers do to protect our overexploited oceans? Consume responsibly, suggest major organisations like Greenpeace or WWF with their seafood consumer guides.
The British newspaper The Guardian has analysed 44 scientific studies and demonstrates that far too often, this responsibility lies beyond our control. This is because we purchase something other than what we actually intend to buy.
Globally, researchers are using DNA barcoding to identify mislabelled seafood products. According to The Guardian, an average of 36% of the suspect samples examined were mislabelled; this represents more than one in three fish.
Malicious intent is not always the cause – the global seafood trade is sometimes confusing even for those involved. However, highly prized and therefore expensive fish species are frequently substituted with "inferior" species – and falsely labelled as the more expensive fish. For years, we have suspected that sharks are also a common substitute. In addition to price gouging, this practice allows illegally caught fish to be introduced to the market: an estimated 8 to 14 million tonnes of illegally caught fish can be concealed annually in this manner.
Particularly critical: anyone ordering pike-perch (Sander lucioperca), grouper (Epinephelinae), sole (Solea solea), or bluefin or yellowfin tuna (Thunnus thynnus or Thunnus albacares) in European (including German) restaurants receives the authentic, ordered fish in only half of all cases. Conversely, the MSC state their mislabelling rate very favourably at "only 1% according to internal studies". The true mislabelling rate is compatible with neither environmental protection nor consumer protection.
So what can consumers do to genuinely protect our overexploited oceans? It is advisable to avoid eating fish as much as possible, otherwise to buy only from a trusted retailer and to ask explicit questions there. Furthermore, reducing fish consumption is generally not detrimental to health.
Sources:
The Guardian, 15.03.21: Revealed: seafood fraud happening on a vast global scale / Is your fish a fake? How to spot seafood fraud and what to do if you're suspicious https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/15/revealed-seafood-happening-on-a-vast-global-scale
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/15/is-your-fish-a-fake-how-to-spot-seafood-and-what-to-do-if-youre-suspicious
Sumaila 2020: Illicit trade in marine fish catch and its effects on ecosystems and people worldwide. Science Advances. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz3801
Pardo 2018: DNA barcoding revealing mislabeling of seafood in European mass caterings. Food Control. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2018.04.044
