In May 2018, China Central Television aired a segment celebrating salmon farming in western China, saying the fish could be raised inland in Xinjiang. The broadcaster said salmon, which typically lives in the open ocean, could be farmed in the barren western hinterland.
Viewers online quickly asked a more basic question: was the fish on screen salmon or rainbow trout? A Beijing-based WeChat account said consumers expected Atlantic salmon but were instead getting freshwater rainbow trout at half the price. “People expect Atlantic salmon, but we're getting freshwater rainbow trout that costs half as much,” the account said.
Fang Shimin, a science writer, said inexpensive rainbow trout was being sold as costly salmon. The viewers’ questions and Fang’s allegation do not establish whether CCTV knowingly promoted a misidentified fish or had itself been misled.
The issue reaches beyond one television segment. Xinjiang, described as the most landlocked patch on the planet, has at least 1,000 fish farms developed by China. That expansion has created a route from an inland region to overseas buyers.
The Outlaw Ocean Project, a news organisation in Washington, D.C., mapped fish farms in Xinjiang as part of its investigation. Its reporting showed seafood from the region reaching the US, including government facilities. The project found that seafood from Xinjiang farms may have entered the US in violation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
The findings do not say how many shipments may have breached the law, which facilities received them, or whether buyers knew of any possible mislabelling. The questions matter for importers seeking to establish what fish they are buying and where it came from.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said this year that empirical studies suggested seafood fraud may occur in up to 20% of worldwide trade. It said the practice can involve substituting one species for another, alongside other forms of misrepresentation.
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