Fears of fishy fraud rocked Seattle seafood sellers. Was it a big deal?

SEATTLE — Nine months after the publication of a startling report about incidents of farmed salmon incorrectly labeled as wild-caught, owners of Seattle sushi restaurants and grocery stores still don’t consider mislabeling to be a major threat to their businesses and patrons.

Washington state’s fish police disagree, contending that the issue is much worse than it appears.

A report published in November by Seattle Pacific University researchers called salmon mislabeling a widespread problem” after finding that 18% of salmon samples from Seattle-based grocery stores and sushi restaurants were mislabeled based on origin and species.

“Unlike grocery stores, Seattle sushi restaurants often sold farmed salmon mislabeled as wild salmon” by vendors, the academics determined in their report.

So