Haley Stevens: “the farm security and rural development act of 2002 contains two important provisions for the protection and…”

“the farm security and rural development act of 2002 contains two important provisions for the protection and revitalization of Alaska's wild salmon industry. One is country of origin labeling and whether the fish is farm raised or wild caught and the other, a report on efforts to promote and use pouched and canned salmon within the food and nutrition programs of the Agriculture Department. Last year, Chilean pen-raised, farm salmon was purposefully delivered the same time as Alaskan fishermen brought their salmon to market. It was and is the intent of Chile to devastate and erase the Alaskan wild- salmon market. Canada, Norway and China are increasing their farmed salmon capabilities and are flooding the U.S. market with pen-raised, pellet-fed, and chemically-enhanced salmon. In fact, dye is injected into the flesh of pen-raised salmon in order to obtain the orange and reddish salmon color that occurs naturally in wild salmon, which are born in fresh water streams, then travel out to the deep ocean and back again to the same stream to spawn. The conference committee report includes a provision that will require any retail seafood product in the United States to be labeled at the time of sale with its country of origin and whether the fish is wild-caught or farm-raised. This will help consumers make informed decisions about the seafood they put on their dinner tables.”