With Budget bills practically the only thing being passed in Congress these days, it was an opportune time to fix the problem with Golden King Crab.
This crab, called Brown crab in the past, has been marketed as Golden King crab for many years by ASMI and the Alaskan crab producers.
It is an extremely stable fishery with a harvest of around 6 million pounds a year. The Latin name is Lithodes aequispinus, and it is very similar to red king crab except it has more spines and has slightly less meat yield.
The crab is found on the continental slope, and it is thought that about 80% of the population is too deep for strings of crab pots.
The FDA, however, despite repeated requests, has refused to change the legally acceptable market name of Brown king crab to Golden King Crab. So Congress did it for them.
Buried on page 117 of the 1665 page bill is one line: “The acceptable market name of Lithodes aequispinus is ‘golden king crab.
By: John Sackton
Re-printed with permission of SeafoodNews.com.
