Consumer Protection WA is urging hospitality venues to ensure they are compliant with the new seafood labelling law ahead of the July 1 deadline.

Under the new law hospitality venues like restaurants, cafes, and pubs that sell seafood are mandated to label the origin of their seafood using the ‘AIM’ labelling model. 

This will show consumers whether the seafood is Australian, imported or mixed.  
 
Consumer Protection WA spokesperson Sharon Buchanan-Clarke says the new seafood law will enable consumers to make informed decisions when they are purchasing seafood from a hospitality venue. 

“It is just about giving them those consumers rights, where they now have a choice to know what they are buying and where the seafood is coming from,” she says. 

The law, which was finalised in 2025 with a 12-month transition period, is different from the country of origin labelling that governs seafood products in retail shops. 

With a few months left from the transition period, some hospitality venues in WA have already fully transitioned.  

City Beach Clancy’s Fish Pub head chef Dan Hansen says it was not hard for the restaurant to make the change.

“It was very easy for us to transition because we already describe where our local seafood comes from, so we just put an A in the end for Australian,” he says.

“Then for other things, like our imported barramundi and tuna, whilst we don’t name where it’s from, we now put the letter ‘I’ in the end, which was quite easy.

“We already started with our summer menu.”

Mrs Buchanan-Clarke notes while some restaurants currently describe the origin of their seafood, they also need to use the AIM labelling model in order to be compliant.

“Businesses must be clear whether their seafood is Australian or not,” she says.

She says consumers might be from overseas, and not know the places mentioned on the menu.

All businesses must comply by July 1 as non-compliance will be a breach of the Competition and Consumer Information standard 2025, which falls under Australian Consumer Law. 

“Are we going to start on the first of July? It depends a lot on what is happening in the industry — if people are complying, and we’re not receiving a lot of complaints. However, in saying that, all businesses must comply by July 1,” Mrs Buchanan-Clarke says.  

Associate Professor Janet Howieson is a seafood researcher at Curtin University.

She says a common concern raised by food venues is about having to change menus often, especially when their seafood supply changes.  

But she believes the new seafood law is an important initiative.

“Of course we hope that it will increase the demand for the local industry,” she says.

“About 8 to 10 years ago,  we actually found that when people are asked the question, they would prefer to buy local but when they’re actually at the shop, price is quite important.”

Dan Hansen says he has not noticed a substantial difference in consumer behaviour yet.

“We weren’t sure how the new law was going to affect us, that’s why we started to transition early, and to my knowledge, speaking to the front of house, the customers haven’t really noticed or asked about the change,” he says.

“Maybe that’s because it’s not so well publicised yet to the public – I don’t recall seeing an advert on television or anything on the radio or the newspaper.”