H-4370              _______________________________________________

                                          SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 2784

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By House Committee on Fisheries & Wildlife (originally sponsored by Representatives Spanel, S. Wilson, R. King, Bowman, Basich, Smith, Vekich and Cole)

Read first time 2/2/90.

AN ACT Relating to salmon labeling for human consumption; adding new sections to chapter 69.04 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 69.04 RCW to read as follows:

          Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout sections 2 through 5 of this act.

          (1) "Salmon" means all species of the genus Oncorhynchus, except those classified as game fish in Title 77 RCW, and includes:

@h0!tp1,1@56Scientific Name !tl@56Common Name

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!ae0!ix!tl!ss1!il*,1!ih2,2!ed !gsxxOncorhynchus tshawytscha!gsyyChinook salmon

!gsxxOncorhynchus kisutch!gsyyCoho salmon

!gsxxOncorhynchus keta!gsyyChum salmon

!gsxxOncorhynchus gorbuscha!gsyyPink salmon

!gsxxOncorhynchus nerka!gsyySockeye salmon

!gsxxSalmo salar (in other than!gsyyAtlantic salmon

!gsxx!sc ,002its landlocked form)

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          (2) "Commercially caught" means salmon harvested by commercial fishers.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 69.04 RCW to read as follows:

          No person may label or offer for retail sale any fresh or frozen salmon food fish and cultured aquatic salmon without identifying the species of salmon by its common name.  Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of misbranding under the provisions of this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  A new section is added to chapter 69.04 RCW to read as follows:

          No person may label or offer for retail sale any fresh or frozen:

          (1) Private sector cultured aquatic salmon without identifying the product as farm raised salmon; or

          (2) Commercially caught salmon designated as food fish under Title 75 RCW without identifying the product as commercially caught salmon; or

          (3) Private sector cultured aquatic salmon or commercially caught salmon without identifying the product as "domestic" or "imported."

          Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of misbranding under the provisions of this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.  A new section is added to chapter 69.04 RCW to read as follows:

          To promote honesty and fair dealing for consumers, the director, in consultation with the director of the department of fisheries, shall promulgate rules:

          (1) Fixing and establishing a reasonable definition and standard of identity for salmon for purposes of consumer labeling; and

          (2) Enforcing the provisions of sections 2 and 3 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.     The departments of agriculture and fisheries shall study the feasibility of requiring information on labels of fresh and frozen salmon for consumer protection and report to the appropriate legislative committees of the house of representatives and the senate by October 31, 1990.