Obama administration releases new measures to prevent seafood fraud

The Obama administration has announced new measures to prevent the mislabelling of seafood and black-market fishing.

The government had formed the Presidential Task Force on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Seafood Fraud in June.

The task force has now released an action plan to fight seafood fraud that would involve expanding partnerships with non-federal entities, and increasing the information available on the products.

All seafood entering the US will need to be accompanied by the appropriate information, such as who caught the fish, when, where and with what. Federal, state and local authorities will be responsible for keeping the records, maintained in a central database.

The Boston Globe quoted deputy secretary of the US Commerce Department Bruce Andrews as saying: "Our nation’s fisheries remain threatened by illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and seafood fraud, which negatively affects our markets.

"The task force’s new strategic plan will aggressively implement recommendations to guarantee that US fishing fleets remain competitive in the global economy."

The move comes several years after it was revealed that restaurants and stores across Massachusetts had sold mislabelled products of inferior quality.

While the new measures were appreciated by many, some criticised them. According to the Boston Globe, representatives of the seafood industry said the administration was overstating some of the problems, saying that there was a need to focus on enforcing laws that are already in place.

Officials released the plan during the opening of the annual Seafood Expo North America in Boston.

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Image: The new measures will be able to enhance the traceability of seafood in the US. Photo: courtesy of rakratchada torsap/freedigitalphotos.net.