Interview: Australian consumers being sold wrong species of fish due to lack of labeling laws

Lax labeling laws and an influx of imported fish from Asia and further abroad has tainted the Australian fish market and led to consumers being sold fish that is often a different species to the one advertised.

Dr John Ford, a marine research fellow at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Melbourne, told Xinhua in a phone interview on Monday that up to half of all Australians were being misled about which fish they were actually eating.

Flake for example, one of Australia's most popular take-away fish, must be gummy shark to hold that title, but it is often being replaced by a cheaper, inferior product.

"Either they're replacing it with a different shark species or ray or a steak, just because they tend to look a little bit similar," Ford said.

"But it's not necessarily just imported species. The issue with flake, which is supposed to be Australian-caught gummy shark, is that it can be replaced with any type of shark whether it is Australian or imported."

Ford said that Greenpeace recently discovered that more than half of all Melburnian consumers were being ripped off at the fish and chip shop.

"There was a study that came out a couple of weeks ago which DNA-tested a number of flake fillets that were sold in fish and chip shops around Melbourne. It came out that less than half of them were gummy shark, which is what they're meant to be," he said.

Australians pay a price for locally-caught gummy shark that is indicative of the standards being put in place, but it was discovered that some fish and chips shops were charging the same premium prices for an imported and sub-standard product.

But Ford said the fact that fish is imported wasn't an issue, rather, the lack of information available to consumers about what they are eating.

"What we need to understand here is that 75 percent of the seafood we eat in Australia is imported," he said.

A lot of fish comes from Asia and it is impossible to replace all that imported seafood with Australian product. It's fundamentally not sustainable, he said.

"We need to be able to differentiate that Australian product because it may have higher production costs due to the underlying social and environmental sustainability standards and it's only fair for our industry."

The price that is charged for Australian-caught gummy shark reflects the fair wages that Australian fisherman are paid, but also the sustainable and set limit of the amount of fish that are able to be caught per year.

"This issue is, when you import fish from overseas, they fish might not be subject to those standards," Ford said.

"They should be differentiated in the marketplace. You should be able to get the information of whether that is an Australian or overseas fish."

Currently, fish shops in Australia are not obligated to display the names of fish or the country of origin.

"Many fish shops will display the correct names, but it is not legally required."

"I think it would be good if it was, and if it was extended to the cooked product such as in fish and chip shops."

"The real key here is the country of origin labeling or at least being able to say whether something is imported or local," he said.

Despite the premium that Australian-caught gummy fish might command, Ford said that he would eat nothing else if the name and origin was prominently displayed at his local fish and chip shop.

"A fresh, local gummy shark cooked in good batter is the best. It tastes unbelievably good." Endi