Fish is a significant part of Hawaiʻi’s food culture, and residents eat up to three times more of it per capita than the rest of the U.S.
But where does all that fish come from?
That’s information local commercial fishers and their advocates want more people to know.
The fish sold and prepared in Hawaiʻi is mostly a mix of local and foreign. The most cited breakdown comes from a 2012 study that estimated about 57% of all seafood consumed in the state between 2000 and 2009 was imported.
In Hawaiʻi, there’s a growing push to require stores and restaurants to label fish as locally caught or imported, including the country of origin.
“I think a major misconception is what is portrayed as locally made (or) freshly made, but it's not, and the fish is not from Hawaiʻi,” said Eric Kingma, the executive director for the Hawaiʻi Longline Association.
“That's one major issue facing both consumers here in Hawaiʻi that care about seafood or that want to believe what they're eating is Hawaiʻi fish.”
Law loopholes
There are already federal laws that require grocery stores to identify the country of origin on packages of cut meat and fish, fruits, vegetables and nuts.
But there are notable loopholes to that requirement. If those food items are ingredients in a processed dish — as is the case with poke — they’re exempt from a country of origin label.
Restaurants and other food-service establishments are also exempt from the law.
Kingma said most of the fish consumed in Hawaiʻi is prepared, and so much of it is served to customers without any indication of where it’s from.
He said stores need to be more transparent.
“The ads … for consumers are not all that factual, or they're just missing a pretty important piece of the information that consumers can choose from,” Kingma said. “Why is it that my shirt has to have the (country of origin label), but my ahi poke doesn't?”
Imported fish
Foreign-imported seafood has long been a concern for domestic producers.
Locally caught fish competes with catch from the Philippines, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Indonesia, Thailand and other nations that source food in the Pacific Ocean.
And that foreign-imported fish can be sold for cheaper than what local fishers can offer.
A 2022 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study analyzed the local pelagic fish market from 2008 to 2019. It found that the average per-pound value of Hawaiʻi-landed pelagic fish — made up of several species, but mostly bigeye and yellowfin tuna — was an average of $3.48 and $2.41 for imports.
Those in the local fishing industry say it’s because other governments subsidize their commercial fishing fleets, while the U.S. does not.
The subsidies drive down the costs of fuel, bait, boat maintenance and construction, and other costs associated with commercial fishing, which are becoming prohibitively expensive due to inflation.
U.S. fishing fleets are also “highly regulated,” Kingma said. The U.S. has restrictions on fishing gear, closed fishing grounds and placed catch limits for targeted species — often implemented for conservation purposes.
Wholesalers, retailers and other fishmongers then get to choose between cheap imports and locally caught fish.
“The same wholesalers who are buying from us are importing the frozen product as well,” said Mike Goto, vice president of the Honolulu Fish Auction.
Local commercial longliners sell most of their catch at the auction as fresh fish, while imports are often frozen and treated.
“Not to point the finger at them, but it is the biggest factor in market fluctuation. The elephant in the room will always be imports,” Goto said.
Label transparency
Stronger labeling requirements could help address the problems brought on by imports.
Advocates say that without a clear distinction between locally sourced and imported fish, customers can’t properly make a choice between the two.
However, that could also compel suppliers to focus on the cheaper option.
Troy Pack, a Hawaiʻi longline fisher, said that they do.
"Most people assume that ahi is coming from here. They think the fleet’s bringing in the ahi and they're selling it over there as that. But really the buyers — for every one fish they're buying of ours, they're importing four, five, six fish,” he said.
Stronger country of origin labels could help create the demand for locally caught fish.
That’s important for local commercial fishers like Pack, who have been struggling to make enough money in the fishing industry.
Increases in the cost of fishing trips, matched with stagnant sale prices, are contributors to the fishers’ problems. But Goto said they’re “ancillary” problems compared to those caused by imports.
State officials have already shown support for stronger labeling laws for local products.
Just this year, lawmakers passed labeling laws that proponents say will protect local macadamia nut and coffee farmers, as well as those who buy their products.
Those products, if sold in Hawaiʻi, have been able to be labeled with local origins — even if most of what’s in those packages has been imported.
The laws require at least 51% local coffee to be in packages labeled as containing Hawaiʻi coffee. Macadamia nut packages must disclose if any of the product inside has been imported.
This is part two of a two-part story. Read and listen to part one: "'I make nothing': Local fishers weigh leaving the industry as inflation drives up costs."
