An Australian Senate review of seafood labelling laws has called for
takeaway shops and restaurants to be required to state which countries fish
comes from, the Guardian reports.
The rural and regional affairs and transport references
committee recommended that the hospitality industry have 12 months until the
“mandated extension of seafood country-of-origin labelling would be enforced”.
The committee’s report said the adoption of such labelling
would “not be onerous” to the industry, citing the existing regime in the
Northern Territory which requires prepared seafood be labelled “imported” if it
is from another country.
Elsewhere in Australia, supermarkets or fish markets selling
uncooked fish must have country-of-origin labelling but there is an exemption
to these rules for restaurants, fish and chip shops and other takeaways.
An extension of labelling laws has been backed by
environmentalists behind the Label My Fish campaign, certain fishers, the
Greens and the independent senator Nick Xenophon, who wants the name
“barramundi” protected so it can only apply to Australian-caught fish.
Pavo Walker, a commercial tuna fisherman from Queensland,
said: “A tuna caught in the high seas by a vessel from Europe or Asia is a different
prospect to one caught by a commonwealth fisherman in Australia.
“We need proper seafood labelling so the Australian fishing
industry can distinguish its product from imports and reap the proper rewards
for complying with a high level of regulation.”
Matt West, president of the Australian Prawn Farmers
Association, said: “Next Christmas all seafood lovers should know exactly what
they are buying. I am delighted that at last a powerful Senate inquiry has
finally found the political will to make a firm recommendation in the consumers
and the national interest.”
The Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said still more should
be done to protect the sustainability of Australia’s fisheries.
“The inquiry’s recommendations, whilst a step in the right
direction, could still go further to achieving better ocean sustainability
outcomes, which are long-term requirements for both the marketplace and marine
stewardship,” he said.
“On the evidence presented at the inquiry, the Greens
recommend a staged approach that would go beyond country-of-origin labelling by
requiring mandatory fish naming standards, and sustainability and provenance
labelling.”
Whish-Wilson said a bill would be presented to parliament in
2015 on seafood labelling. The government has yet to indicate its response to
the committee’s report.
Read the article HERE.
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