Customers focused on buying only seafood from sustainable species like wild Alaskan salmon may be doing just the opposite, a new report said, and overpaying for it too.
Oceana, a nonprofit that focuses on protecting oceans, announced last Wednesday that its scientists found commercial seafood is often mislabeled to sell cheap fillets at the cost of expensive ones and also to pass off overfished species for abundantly available ones.
In "Bait and Switch," Oceana reports that $10 billion to $23.5 billion is lost annually on illegal fishing.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California publishes "Seafood Watch" lists for U.S. regions. According to its 2011 guide, wild Alaskan salmon and scallops farmed off the ocean floor rank among the most sustainable species. Atlantic cod, imported shrimp and monkfish made the least sustainable list.
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