Fishermen want clear labeling for locally caught seafood vs imported

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Hawaii residents and visitors alike love seafood. The state eats twice as much as the national average. While the fish you’re eating might be called locally made, it might be imported.

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Local fishermen want to make sure buyers are aware. Poke by the Pound in Kalihi only uses fresh, locally caught fish for its poke bowls.

“I’d say the fresher is better,” said Pono Hill. “The quality is there. You can taste it.”

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“This is one of the best places for poke bowls and ahi belly,” said Ryan Bodnar.

“People come here from all over, they want to eat our fish,” said Long Tran, manager, Poke by the Pound. “Make no sense to have other fish to try.”

Local fishermen agree but understand consumers need to have options. They are concerned that buyers are being misled on where the fish they’re eating is coming from.

“I think there’s a serious misconception in the consumer base in Hawaii that that poke that’s offered at retail is locally landed and it’s not,” said Eric Kingma, Executive Director of Hawaii Longline Association. “It’s mostly imported.”

The USDA requires all seafood sold at stores to have a country of origin label. Once the product is prepared – like poke – that requirement is gone.

So you’ll see some stores use wording like “fresh made” or “locally made” on poke with fish that’s been previously frozen and imported from places like the Philippines, Mexico, Vietnam or China.

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“There are no clear guidance that requires distributor, retailers, or chef to label their dishes in a certain way so it’s really difficult to understand what you’re eating, where it comes from and what sort of impact that has when you buy that fish ,” said Matt Ramsey, Western Pacific Fishery Management Council member.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council says the US fishing industry is highly regulated, so you can trust the fish you’re eating is safe and supports the local economy.

“The quality control is amazing, it tastes so much better,” said Ramsey. “And so that’s what consumers should be paying attention to cause you want to buy good tasting seafood.”

“Proof is in the pudding brother, if you guys ever tried this place, gotta wipe your mouth after you eat it” said Bodnar. “All drooling. Ono.”

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“For the most part, when you have something good, it’s worth paying for,” said Tran. “For a lot of people, they think it’s worth it so appreciate them coming.”

“I would pay the money for the fresh fish over the previously frozen,” said Hill.

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