Chilean Sea Bass

This is the first rant to pop to my mind as it involves all kinds of wonderful things, a classic shell game, poaching and good old fashioned branding.

Those who have eaten or heard about Chilean Sea Bass usually know it’s at least expensive and many have heard it was endangered and that has connection to the price.

Some may know Chilean Sea Bass was an FDA approved name for Patagonian Toothfish, many fish have multiple names depending on market so that is no surprise.

The deception comes when they fished Patagonian Toothfish to the endangered list, I understand illegal poaching made stock management more difficult, but lets face it, everyone was fishing.

Now Chilean Sea Bass is endangered, so what do we do? Why not add a similar fish to the list of FDA approved names for Chilean Sea Bass?

Well they did just that, added Antarctic Toothfish to the list and Voila, no more endangered Chilean Sea Bass.

Aside from the typical environmental problems, I feel like it needs a unique name for allergy purposes, the Antarctic variety contains a special antifreeze glycoprotein in it’s fat, not found in Patagonian Toothfish.

This can cause reactions in people with sensitivities and make troubleshooting difficult.