Country of origin labelling for seafood in hospitality settings: information standard and explanatory statement

Submission on Country of origin
labelling for seafood in
Hospitality: Information Standard
and Explanatory Statement

16 April 2025
Submission on Country of origin labelling for seafood in Hospitality: Information Standard and
Explanatory Statement

1. About Queensland Seafood Industry Association Inc

Queensland Seafood Industry Association Inc (QSIA) is Queensland’s peak membership based organisation representing the wild harvest commercial seafood industry in Queensland. Its history dates back over 100 years. Membership activity ranges from the NSW border to the NT border and encompasses all forms of commercial fishing namely line, crab, net and Trawl. QSIA also has members that provide pre and post harvest goods and services to the industry.

QSIA’s is proud to have as its patron.

2. Our Submission

a) Support for Seafood Industry Australia’s Submission

QSIA endorses Seafood Industry Australia’s submission to this consultation

b) Fished v’s Farmed (Aquaculture) Seafood

It is QSIA’s view a minimum standard be established for the disclosure of the origin of Australian
Seafood into two classifications:

• Farmed (Aquaculture)
• Wild fished.

Consumers are often unaware of the true provenance of their Australian seafood. While there has been growing awareness and regulatory progress around country-of-origin labelling—there remains a notable gap in how seafood is classified based on its method of production: whether it is wild- caught or farmed (aquaculture).

Without clear and consistent classification, it is possible for products to be misrepresented—either unintentionally or deliberately—with farmed seafood being passed off as wild-caught, or vice versa.

This misrepresentation not only undermines consumer trust but also prevents them from making informed choices.

Introducing a further classification layer, like the one already recognised between Imported and
Australian seafood, would strengthen provenance transparency. It would give consumers greater confidence in what they’re purchasing and allow them to make informed decisions between
Aquaculture and Wild-Caught seafood.

Unlike fruit and meat, where production methods are generally well understood and clearly labelled, seafood presents a unique challenge when it comes to provenance and production transparency.
Consumers inherently know that meat and fruits are farmed. In contrast, both Aquaculture farmed and wild-caught seafood are common in the mainstream market, yet this distinction is often not

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Submission on Country of origin labelling for seafood in Hospitality: Information Standard and
Explanatory Statement made clear to consumers. Aquaculture and wild seafood can appear similar once processed, making misrepresentation easier—particularly in restaurants, resorts, or tourism settings where people may assume seafood is local and wild-caught. Seafood also moves through a far more complex supply chain than most fruits or meats, increasing the risk of provenance information being lost or misrepresented. This lack of clarity has led to inaccurate reflective pricing, and diminished consumer trust—issues that are less prevalent in food categories where production is more transparent, standardised and expected.

Branding from aquaculture farms is a common practice for requesting recognition on menus.
However, due to the supply chain and distribution processes with small-scale fishers and fisheries, this is uncommon. The expectation should be that at a minimum, products are labelled as either wild-caught or aquaculture, allowing consumers to easily distinguish between wild and unmarked aquaculture products. This then not only provides transparency to the consumer, on how their product is harvested, it allows recognition for small scale operators within the industry.

In the past five years, the need to distinguish between farmed and wild-caught seafood has grown significantly. Aquaculture has expanded rapidly, but labelling hasn’t kept up, leaving consumers in the dark. At the same time, consumers want to know and understand how their food is produced.
Media reports have highlighted frequent mislabelling issues, yet regulations—particularly in food service & retail sales post distribution—remain limited. Clearer labelling is now more important than ever for our industry.

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