According to New York's Attorney General,
Letitia James, when someone in her state buys premium-
priced fish that fetches between $19 and $29
per pound -- like grouper, cod, halibut, striped bass,
and white tuna -- inferior varieties farmed in foreign
countries with little or no regulatory oversight
are substituted by the retailer, who pays as little as
$3 per pound, 43 percent of the time. James' team
bought and tested samples from 155 New York locations
and found that farmed salmon samples were
sold as "wild" 27 percent of the time, and 67 percent
of red snapper fillets were mislabeled.
For white-fleshed fish, supermarkets and grocery
stores are jerking their customers around,
usually substituting Asian catfish varieties called
swai, panga and basa, says Robert DeMasco, owner
of Pierless Fish in Brooklyn. "On menus, people
like descriptions. I think it's the romance, the story
in their head -- 'line-caught' this, 'day boat' that.'
'Diver scallops' is a big one. People love a diver in
a wetsuit getting their scallops for them. There are
some, sure. But how many menus in this city, this
country, have a 'diver scallops' on them? There
aren't that many divers. No. Scallops are dredged.
'Dredged?' Dredged is not a sexy word."
-- Manny Howard, Salon