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Authorities Seek Tougher Penalties For False Labeling Of Fish

OLYMPIA, Wash. - When you order that special filet at a restaurant or store, you're often going on trust that the fish actually is what the menu or label says it is. In Washington, two state agencies are asking for tougher penalties to deter seafood fraud.

Investigators for Consumer Reports recently found more than one-fifth of the fish they submitted for DNA identification was mislabeled at the point of sale.

Washington Fish and Wildlife police deputy chief Mike Cenci says the penalties for false labeling need to be stronger.

"The most I could do for a first-time offender -- regardless of the scale of fraud -- would be to write them up for $200," Cenci says. "That person is laughing all the way to the bank."

Cenci testified at the Washington Legislature in favor of making bigger cases of fraud a gross misdemeanor and threatening the worst offenders with felony prosecution.

This would be more in line with the current penalties Oregon's state police and Department of Agriculture can levy. In Olympia, several fishing and seafood processing groups spoke in favor of putting teeth into the law to support consumer confidence.

On the Web:

SB5037/HB 1200: Seafood labeling bill (Washington Legislature)
Reeling In Fishy Business At The Seafood Counter - October 23, 2011

Tom Banse / Northwest News Network
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Northwest News Network

Copyright 2013 Northwest News Network

Correspondent Tom Banse is an Olympia-based reporter with more than three decades of experience covering Washington and Oregon state government, public policy, business and breaking news stories. Most of his career was spent with public radio's Northwest News Network, but now in semi-retirement his work is appearing on other outlets.
Tom Banse
Tom Banse covers national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports and human interest stories from across the Northwest. He reports from well known and out–of–the–way places in the region where important, amusing, touching, or outrageous events are unfolding. Tom's stories can be found online and heard on-air during "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on NPR stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.