AP Investigation: Buying local fish? It may not be true

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

AP Investigation: Buying local fish? It may not be true

By ROBIN MCDOWELL, MARGIE MASON and MARTHA MENDOZA
Today

MONTAUK, N.Y. (AP) — Even after winter storms left East Coast harbors thick with ice, some of the country’s top chefs and trendy restaurants were offering sushi-grade tuna supposedly pulled in fresh off the coast of New York.

But it was just an illusion. No tuna was landing there. The fish had long since migrated to warmer waters.

In a global industry plagued by fraud and deceit, conscientious consumers are increasingly paying top dollar for what they believe is local, sustainably caught seafood. But even in this fast-growing niche market, companies can hide behind murky supply chains that make it difficult to determine where any given fish comes from. That’s where national distributor Sea To Table stepped in, guaranteeing its products were wild and directly traceable to a U.S. dock — and sometimes the very boat that brought it in.

However, an Associated Press investigation found the company was linked to some of the same practices it vowed to fight. Preliminary DNA tests suggested some of its yellowfin tuna likely came from the other side of the world, and reporters traced the company’s supply chain to migrant fishermen in foreign waters who described labor abuses, poaching and the slaughter of sharks, whales and dolphins.

The New York-based distributor was also offering species in other parts of the country that were illegal to catch, out of season and farmed.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/73646ad2aaac4666a7124806b2e6a5bc/AP-Investigation:-Buying-local-fish?-It-may-not-be-true

[matt819]

1. Squid

A few years ago I went into a new fish market that opened in town. I popped in to see if they had any fresh squid. I asked where they got their squid. He said Boston but that they didn’t have any fresh. They did have frozen, though. I went to the freezer case to pick up a package of the frozen. It was clearly labeled, product of China. I asked about this and the guy in the store said, yes, it’s from China, and we go to Boston to get it.

Haven’t been back since.