Word: catfishing
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Before they launch hasty trademark fights, countries should consider America's plight. Though it is winning its battle with the Vietnamese, the U.S. has lost ground elsewhere in the trademarking war. Congress's catfish vote forced the U.S. trade representative to drop opposition to a similar ban in Europe that allows only North Atlantic sardines to be sold as herring...
...though, the French idea is catching on worldwide, as the latest tool of those who would protect their regional agriculture and aquaculture from competition. Audacious producers are claiming virtual trademarks on everything from catfish, herring and scallops to certain varieties of rice and onions...
...November, U.S. President George W. Bush signed a one-year provision declaring that only bottom feeders raised in the U.S. could be sold as catfish. Legislation to make the ban permanent passed the Senate in December and is pending in the House. The measure was specifically aimed at competition from Vietnamese farmers who raise a variety of catfish in flooded rice paddies and sell them for attractive prices: about $4.00 a kilo wholesale, vs. $5.60 for U.S.-farmed catfish. Called basa, the Vietnamese fish account for about 20% of catfish fillets sold in the U.S., up from...
...Never mind that ichthyologists have found that U.S. catfish and Vietnamese basa are virtually indistinguishable genetically. Never mind that importers of basa defy anyone in a blind taste test to distinguish their product from U.S. catfish. This battle isn't about science or succulence so much as it is about politics and commerce...
...Before the catfish flap, Americans from several Southern states fought one another over the popular "no tears" onions known as Vidalia Sweets. Originally grown near the town of Vidalia, Georgia, these onions soon were cultivated elsewhere from Vidalia onion seeds. A 1986 Georgia law says onion growers in only 20 of the state's 159 counties can label their produce Vidalia. Violators are fined by the state's commissioner of agriculture...