An impediment to consumer choice: Overfished species are sold as Pacific red snapper

Marketplace substitution of Atlantic salmon for Pacific salmon in Washington State detected by DNA barcoding

“…Because their study included only five salmon samples, all sold as either Atlantic salmon or unspecified, their results cannot be directly compared with this study. Other studies of market substitution for various seafood products other than salmon in the United States have also revealed relatively high rates of market substitution (e.g., Logan et al, 2008;Lowenstein et al, 2009;Marko et al, 2004).…”

“…Wong and Hanner (2008) used this method to show that 25% of seafood samples from the northeastern USA and Canada were potentially mislabeled. DNA sequencing studies focused upon particular fisheries have also exposed consistently high levels of mislabelling; rockfish (Logan, Alter, Haupt, Tomalty, & Palumbi, 2008), tuna from sushi restaurants (Lowenstein, Amato, & Kolokotronis, 2009) and red snapper (Marko et al, 2004) in the USA, cod (Miller & Mariani, 2010), grouper (Asensio, Gonzalez, Pavo, Garcia, & Martin, 2008), and hake (MachadoSchiaffino, Martinez, & Garcia-Vazquez, 2008) in Europe, and various endangered local species in South Africa (von der Heyden, Barendse, Seebregts, & Matthee, 2010) all had rates of market substitution at 25% or higher.…”

DNA‐Based Detection of Commercial Fish Species

“…Species can then be identified by determining which reference sequences exhibit the lowest genetic distance to the target sequence. This method has been utilized to identify numerous fish and seafood species, including snapper, rockfish, and tilapia [14], small pelagic fish used in canned sardine products [15], and octopus and squids [8,16].…”

Evaluating the availability of fish species on the South African market and the factors undermining sustainability and consumer choice

“…However, a major limitation experienced globally with such awareness campaigns is that the recommendations made are only as effective as that information that is provided to consumers on the product labelling or by the vendors at the point of sale. If vital information on the species and conservation impact is not available, or if fish are mislabelled, poor choices may be inadvertently made in spite of the good intentions of the consumer (Jacquet & Pauly, 2007;2008;Logan, Alter, Haupt, Tomalty, & Palumbi, 2008).…”