2) We have been deceived; do not sell us a cat for a hare! The deception in the identity of the fish that we buy in the largest cities of Argentina

DELPIANI, G. E.; DELPIANI, S.M.; DÍAZ DE ASTARLOA, J. M.

Roma

Exposici�n; Expert meeting on fish fraud; 2022

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division

Falsification and mislabelling practices represent the most frequently highlighted fraud incidents with direct impact on consumers trust and supply chain economy, potential harmful impacts on consumers’ health and negative impact on seafood stocks preservation. In fact, unsustainable fishing pressure has led to the decline of most shark populations, and some are facing extinction. These predators play a crucial ecological role in structuring marine ecosystems and food webs, and are commercially important for their meat and particularly for their fins. Late maturation, low fecundity, and longevity make sharks acutely vulnerable to overexploitation and prevent rapid recovery from over-fishing. Recent global catch assessments estimated approximately 100 million sharks that are landed annually, excluding illegal, unreported, and unregulated shark catches. A review of global actions and inaction on sharks reported the global shark fishery is primarily driven by 20 countries, with Indonesia (13%), India (9%), Spain (7.3%), Taiwan (5.8%), and Argentina (4.3%) contributing most to shark landings. Argentina ranks number seven in the list of countries with the largest capture rate of elasmobranchs, even supposing an exhaustive valuation of the impact of industrial fishing is made difficult by imprecise records. Currently in Argentina, the official records of the Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganaderia y Pesca reported 14529,3 tons of landed chondrichthyans in 2021, of which 25% (3,664.4 t) are sharks. In this scene, 191 fillets were acquired from 34 fish retailers from the 6 largest cities in Argentina (Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Córdoba and Rosario). In total, 70 cases of mislabelling were revealed, representing a total substitution rate of 36.65%. The majority of mislabelling incidents were found with Thunnus albacares (21) [substituted by Mustelus schmitti (13), Callorhinchus callorynchus (4), Squatina guggenheim (2) and others]. The city in which the highest percentage of replacements were found was Mar del Plata (55%), followed by Rosario (47.92%), Córdoba (41.38%), La Plata (29.41%), Bahía Blanca (25%) and Buenos Aires (23.21%). It should be noted that in Buenos Aires, if samples from “Barrio chino” (Chinatown) are not considered, the percentage increases to 27.3%. It is important to make this clarification, since culturally in Argentina the consumption of fish is low, being majority (around 90%) the consumption of meat, swine, birds and sheep. Such is the case that in the fish retailers were fillets with common names that refer to these types of meats such as: chicken fish, or "vacio" of sea (vacio is a very famous meat in Argentina). On the other hand, the Asian population has a greater tendency to consume fish and seafood, so in the “Barrio chino” there were no cases of misllabeling. Instead everything that was for sale had its correct common and vernacular names. Returning to the general results, almost 70% of the replacements involved Chondrichthyes (48 of the 70 mislabeled fillets), mainly with C. callorynchus (21), M. schmitii (20), G. galeus (3), A. castelnaui (1) and S. Guggenheim (1) being sold as something else. These results, reinforce what was previously observed for the coastal cities of the Province of Buenos Aires (Argentina), where 21% of the fillets were poorly labeled. On this occasion the percentage is even greater, and it should not be surprising, since it was observed that in all the fish retailers what was minimally available was the same triad: hake, "tuna hill” (mainly M. schmitti) and "chicken fish " (C. callorynchus), the latter are two chondrichthyans. The reproductive characteristics of this group (longevity, late maturation and low fertility) makes them very vulnerable to overexploitation and that they do not quickly recover from overfishing. Considering that hake is the most commercially target fish to exploitation in the country, and is available at the same time that these two species of chondrichthyes, it can be ensured that populations are suffering an exploitation that goes beyond the sustainable. Since the importance of biological, conservational, economic, social and health aspects, is that the imperative need of a traceability law in Argentina and its correct application arises.