Careful Consumption Alone Can't Save the World's Fish

[wolf]

I'm always careful when I'm eating fish. There's all those bones.

[xoxoxoBruce]

To end the deception about fish names, I suggest that scientific names of all fish varieties be used in trade. So it doesn't matter if one calls a particular fish as a slimehead or an orange roughy. However, if it is labelled as Hoplostethus atlanticus in commerce and trade, it makes it more difficult to make up new names to disguise an illegal catch.

This from the guy that wanted the simplify spelling. Doesn't matter what they call it, you have no way of knowing what you're eating. Whether they change the proper name verses a common name makes no difference. Deception is the name of the game, not loopholes.

[Kingswood]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

This from the guy that wanted the simplify spelling. Doesn't matter what they call it, you have no way of knowing what you're eating. Whether they change the proper name verses a common name makes no difference. Deception is the name of the game, not loopholes.

Scientific names are the one unambiguous way of naming an organism. It would be similar to using a scientific name when purchasing chemicals.

The obvious difference is that chemicals must be correct or else one could be in big trouble if the wrong chemical is purchased (for example, a big boom followed by a big lawsuit from the survivors), whereas someone buying fish at the market - whether fresh off the boat or at the fishmongers - is likely to say "Meh" and just buy the damn thing anyway. It may be impractical if one is not always able to identify a particular catch of fish down to the species level.

But there is a way to circumvent the deceptive names. Just register them as trademarks and sue anyone who uses them.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I doubt you can trademark names that have been in use already. I really don't see how the consumer can have much influence short of boycotting fish entirely. To rely on the fishmongers to keep everything up and up is naive....their kids get hungry too. Lastly, I'm always hesitant to advocate the government get into anything. That said, I'll be damned if I can think of another way to have any effect. I also think it depends on Japan, as they're the major seafood hounds.