sea bass (credit: Sarah_Ackerman)
Increasingly people are become much more aware of fish and the impacts of commercial fishing on the environment and other species. Many people look for the Marine Stewardship council (MSC) seal of approval to ensure that the fish they buy is sustainable. Sadly all is not what it seems.
Genetic testing raises concerns over Sea Bass.
Researchers have just published a study in the journal Cell Press which highlights that MSC sustainable Chilean Sea Bass may not be all that it first seems. Their study demonstrates that not only are the sea bass on the shelves of supermarkets not sustainable but they may not even be sea bass.
The reasearchers looked at the genetic make up of store bought eco-labeled sustainable Chilean Sea Bass and Peter Marko of Clemson University said, ”We found that, for fish purchased in US groceries, not all those labeled as MSC-certified Chilean sea bass are actually MSC-certified Chilean sea bass.“
Up to 15% of eco-labelled sea bass not sustainable.
Some of the fish bought once analysed proved not to be sea bass and of the samples that did prove to be sea bass up to 15% where not from sustainable populations. There are only one fishery of Chilean sea bass that are considered to be sustainable and so qualify for MSC certification. That fishery is located at sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia and near by Shag Rocks.
When the researchers sampled the genetic make up of the fish they bought the range of genetic types demonstrated that the fish came from other areas of South Amercia, one even sea bass species came from the Indian Ocean on the other side of the globe to Chile and some of the fish came from populations whose genetic finger print had never been sampled before.
“The simplest explanation for this result is that other species plus Chilean sea bass from other, uncertified fisheries are being added to the supply chain for MSC-certified Chilean sea bass,” Marko said.
Profits on sustainable sea bass drives mislabelling.
Marko explained that the results were not really that surprising given the amounts of profit involved in the seafood industry and the industry has a long history of mis-leading labelling. The sea food industry is quite complex and so it is difficult to discover at what stage of the process between trawler and shop counter the fish are being mislabelled as sustainable.
“There is no question that organizations like the Marine Stewardship Council are trying their best to guide consumers to sustainably harvested seafood, but it is currently difficult to guarantee the geographic origins of fish,” Marko said.
Sadly without a complete gene testing kit when you go shopping there is no way to distinquish if a Chilean sea bass is from the sustainable source or not. Just looking at a sea bass on the counter will provide no clues as to it’s origin. ”At a grocery or on a plate in a restaurant, Chilean sea bass from South Georgia looks the same as Chilean sea bass from other parts of the world,” Marko said.
If consumers really are concerned over where their fish comes from then as far a sea bass is concerned it may be best to keep it off the shopping list.
