Safety and Fraud Enforcement for Seafood Act

On March 6, 2013, Edward Markey (D-MA) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives (HR 1012) to combat seafood mislabeling. The Safety and Fraud Enforcement for Seafood Act, or SAFE Act, seeks to:

• Require that detailed information accompany seafood through the supply chain to the point of sale, including scientific name, geographic catch area, date of catch, and catch method (this information must be available upon request by customers or government representatives)
• Improve the FDA list of standardized names for seafood
• Authorize import refusal of suspected or known violators (of seafood mislabeling)
• Improve inter-agency cooperation
• Track perpetrators of seafood fraud

This bill follows recent studies by Oceana and others on seafood fraud in the US retail market. Follow these links for a summary of the bill and a recent seafood source story on the SAFE Act. Co-sponsors include Walter Jones (R-NC), John Tierney (D-MA), Bill Keating (D-MA), Lois Capps (D-CA) and Jo Bonner (R-AL), Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), Donna Christensen (D-Virgin Islands), Theodore Deutch (D-FL), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Eleanor Norton (D-DC), Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Sam Farr (D-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Charles Rangel (D-NY), and Jackie Speier (D-CA).

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) introduced companion legislation in the senate, S. 520, on March 11, 2013. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is a co-sponsor.

FishWise will track progress, support and opposition these bills and provide updates as they become available.