Fish origin labels slip off the hook for 2025

Image via Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Floridians wanting assurances from the state that they aren’t eating foreign or farmed fish won’t get them this year.

Sen. Corey Simon’s legislation (SB 428) that would codify the Florida Wild Fish and Seafood Certification Program starting in July was temporarily postponed this week in the Agriculture Committee.

That would have been the first hearing for the proposal.

Rep. Jason Shoaf’s companion bill never got a hearing in the House.

If this bill had become law, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services would have set up a “quality certification” program for fish and shrimp. It would have addressed harvest and packaging, and would have required Florida wild fish to be harvested in-state and not farmed, and would require disposal of non-compliant product.

Vendors would have had to apply for permits to participate in this program, allowing for state oversight.

The law also would have required people selling foreign or farmed fish to clearly let buyers know, with a sign 8.5 inches wide by 11 inches tall and at least three feet off the floor, The sign would have been by the display of fish, with English letters at least an inch high.