Cutting the red tape that turns emperors into bream
Gordon Yearsley can't help himself. When out shopping with his wife De-arne, he is inclined to suddenly dash into the nearest fish shop and begin inspecting the labels.
For the CSIRO marine biologist, checking to see if the blue-eyed cod is really a New Zealand blue-cod - totally different fish with unfortunately similar names - is an occupational hazard that irritates De-arne.
Mr Yearsley suspects a lot of what is sold in suburban fish shops is wrongly labelled. The problem, he says, is not so much deception by retailers, but the baffling plethora of names used to market fish.
Cod, bass and sea perch have become blanket tags for a wide range of different fish.
Fish shipped across the Tasman Sea to be sold in Sydney as the New Zealand hoki was branded as the blue grenadier if caught in local waters.
"If you buy smoked cod in the supermarket, it's probably hake from South Africa ... 95 per cent sure."
Mr Yearsley said most customers had no idea that fish imports had soared 50 per cent in the last decade and that 60 per cent of fish was now from overseas.
"By law, imported fish must be displayed with a notice saying its an imported product, but you hardly ever see it."
The confusion was compounded by employees who knew as little as their customers. "To be a butcher you have to have done an apprenticeship but the person selling you your fish may be on their first day in the job."
To help customers and retailers, the CSIRO yesterday launched Australian Seafood Handbook - Imported Species, co-authored by Mr Yearsley, a companion guidebook to a work published in 1999 detailing Australian fish. Both use standardised names approved by the Australian Fish Names Committee, and other common names.
The red emperor, for example, masquerades as the government bream - named for the red bars on the juvenile that "give the impression that the fish is entangled in red tape".
Jewfish can be sold as croaker and drum, while king dory is sometimes horsehead.
Mr Yearsley said even he was surprised to find that more than 250 different fish were imported.
Half came from Thailand or New Zealand, with Vietnam, Indonesia and Burma among growing sources.
After 22 years at sea, Glenn Dean is used to mis-labelled fish in suburban shops.
"You see it everywhere you go," the professional fisherman said. "I look at the fish on sale and say 'that's not right'. I see hairtail sold as blue grenadier and tarwhine sold as bream."
At the fish markets yesterday Mike Nicholas, of Mosman, confessed he enjoyed the confusion.
"It makes me look at the product. It adds linguistic spice," he said, recalling how after one Melbourne Cup he was advised to try a fish branded "New Zealand galloper".
It turned out to be red emperor.