Special thanks to meeting sponsors:
Seafood Suppliers
Star Box Co.
Joyce Company
On October 28th more than 60 members and guests of CFSI met at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club to hear from Chairman Kevin Joyce, newly elected President Dave Rudie, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), and Rob Ross, CFSI Executive Director. The discussions were a combination of the distressing information shared by state authorities regarding the high levels of domoic acid in Dungeness (and rock) crab, and good news about CFSI supported legislation that puts to rest the seafood labeling wars that the industry has battled for the last 3 years.
CDPH and CDFW discussed their monitoring results and answered many questions from attendees while careful to not say that closures were imminent.
The high levels of domoic acid, toxic in high levels, was found to still be present in D. crab during the preseason routine testing by state officials. In an abundance of caution these levels prompted the Fish and Game commission to close of the recreational fishery season scheduled to start Saturday November 7th. It is widely expected that Chuck Bonham, the Director of the Fish and Wildlife, will announce the closure of the commercial season (slated each year for Bodega Bay and south) for November 15th as well. For clarification the Commission has authority over recreational crabbing and the Director has authority to close the commercial sector. (Pease see the article below for more details).
On a very High note was a report from Rob that CFSI supported AB 225, carried by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, did two things. First, it establishes statewide authority and standards for stand-alone Fishermen’s and Fish Farmer Markets, quite similar to the body of law that authorizes Farmers markets. This was viewed as a positive way to promote fish and seafood consumption to the consumer and provide fresh (or live) local fish in an open air setting, stimulating fish consumption over all since “a rising tide lifts all boats”.
Included in the Speakers bill was language meticulously guarded By CFSI regarding seafood labeling. Members recall the battles brought by a major NGO that we opposed. In 2014 CFSI led the establishment of a coalition resulting in a Governor’s veto SB 1138 which would have banned the labeling of seafood in California found on the FDA Fish List’s ACCEPTABLE MARKET NAME category and force all fish sold in the state to be the FDA’s COMMON NAME, the very specific scientific name or specific reference of a fish or shellfish. This year the same NGO sponsored AB 820 that would have been even more onerous. AB 820 would have exonerated all restaurants and grocers for labeling errors, shifting virtually all responsibility (and liability) for how the fish is labeled to the wholesaler!
The text of AB 226 that addresses seafood labeling in California was a proactive priority of CFSI. We believe it settles the debate on seafood labeling in California and may assist in arguments against any other changes to existing laws and regulations at other states or at the federal level. What the California legislature does is often mentioned when arguing for a similar law in another state or jurisdiction.
The pertinent language in AB 226, which was signed into law by Governor Brown on October 9th, is as follows:
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 113729.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
113729.5.
“Acceptable market name” means a name that the FDA recognizes as a suitable statement of identity, as described in Section 101.3 of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, in the labeling of a species. An acceptable market name fairly represents the identity of the species to United States consumers because it is not confusingly similar to the name of another species and because it is not otherwise misleading. An acceptable market name may be any of the following:
(a) A common or usual name established by either a history of common usage in the United States or by regulation.
(b) The common name.
(c) A name specifically coined as the market name for a species. For example, “basa” is the market name coined for Pangasius bocourti.