74 COM-IiilRCIAL FISIERES iSVIEW Vol. 13, Wo. 7 



believe are not approvable under tiie regulations. The field office staff will now 

 be able to consult vnth the coii5)any and union involved and seek additional infor- 

 mation before the petition is forwarded, although it will not take action on the 

 merits of the case. 



At the same time WSB officials announced that after June 25 it will be com- 

 pulsory to file petitions with the Wage and Hour offices instead of in Washington, 

 There is no particular form required for the petitions as yet, but petitioners 

 should file an original and five copies with the Wage and Hour offices. 



Federal Security Agency 



FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION 



" PACIFIC GCBAL'T PERCH" DESIGMAFION P3RI-JITTBD FOR PACIFIC ROCKFISH SIECIES : "Pa- 

 cific Ocean Perch" will be an acceptable designation for a species of rockfish or 

 rosefish now being marketed by fisheries of the Pacific Northwest, the Food and Drug 

 Administration announced on June 28. 



The name will serve to distinguish frozen fillets of the Pacific Coast fish 

 from a similar, but different, variety advertised and marketed by New England fish- 

 eries under the name of "Ocean Perch." 



Simultaneously, FDA announced termination of a court action involving the West 

 Coast product with the understanding that the "Pacific" designation will be used in 

 future labeling. 



FDA's Associate Commissioner pointed out that correct labeling of fish some- 

 times presents difficult scientific and commercial questions. Atlantic fishermen 

 object to Pacific competitors applying the name which they have pop\ilarized to an 

 altogether different variety of fish. The Federal Food, Diug, and Cosmetic Act re- 

 quires that foods be designated by their "common or usual names," but thousands of 

 varieties of fish are knovm only by their scientific names. When one of these is 

 marketed coma.ercially it becomes practically necessary to adopt a conmon name. 



Seeking settlement of the question, FDA asked opinions of leading ichthyologists. 

 Scientists of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and others were generally in agree- 

 ment that the Atlantic and Pacific fish are in the same family, although not the same 

 species. Some ichthyologists regard the Pacific fish as Sebastodes alutus, while 

 others were less certain and believed it may be a species not yet classified. It is 

 similar to, but not identical to Sebastes marinus , the classification assigned by 

 some scientists to the "ocean perch" taken off New England, 



Other classifiers say that the "ocean perch" from New England waters is not 

 Sebastes marinus , but is two other species of Sebastes, one of the genus fasciatus 

 and the other not clearly classified as to genus. At least one famous ichthyologist 

 asserts that Sebastes marinus is found only in northern European waters. 



The Food and Drug Administration has undertaken to develop a study project, 

 through the Fish and "Wildlife Service, the Smithsonian Institution, and others, to 

 establi^ facts about the classification of both the East Coast and West Coast 

 species. Until more information is available, it has been announced that objection 

 will not be raised to the continued use of the name "ocean perch" for the Atlantic 

 fillets and the name "Pacific Ocean Perch" for the West Coast fillets. 



