The early-arrival problem of hairy crabs requires legal regulation

According to reports, the official opening of Yangcheng Lake for crab fishing this year is September 23. Nevertheless, by visiting seafood markets in the capital and searching online shopping platforms, reporters found that there are quite a few sales channels for counterfeit Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs. Some merchants know full well that Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs are not yet on the market, but by packaging them and attaching counterfeit labels, they transform ordinary river crabs into Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs.

Before the authentic Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs have even been caught, so-called "Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs" are already being sold on the market. Clearly they are all fakes, and such a scene is nothing new; "impostors" can be seen every year. Moreover, the "impostors" run through the entire season. Even when the authentic Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs are caught and go on sale, the market is still flooded with all kinds of fakes, and consumers can hardly guarantee that they are buying the real thing. Constrained by the geographical environment for farming, Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs have an annual output of more than two thousand tonnes, but the "Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs" sold on the market far exceed this figure. People in the industry call it "nine fakes out of ten purchases"; eating the real thing comes down to luck.

According to reports, affected by climate factors such as heavy rain in the early period and high temperatures, this year will be an "off year" for hairy crabs, and nationwide hairy crab output has declined. This year's national output is about seven hundred thousand tonnes, down at least 20% from last year. Of that, authentic Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs account for about two thousand tonnes, an extremely small proportion, but because of their high brand recognition they have almost become synonymous with hairy crabs, which in turn drives overall hairy crab sales and sets off a wave of people eating hairy crabs.

Because Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs are expensive and have a strong brand premium, they have also created a "halo effect". The price gap between them and other hairy crabs is large and the profit margin is high, which leads merchants in other places, in order to seek exorbitant profits, to fish in troubled waters, passing off local hairy crabs as Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs and peddling them to unsuspecting consumers. What is worse, even local merchants in Yangcheng Lake take part, putting hairy crabs from elsewhere into Yangcheng Lake; these are called "bathed" hairy crabs. These profit-seekers exploit the advantage of information asymmetry to fool ordinary consumers.

In order to protect the designation of origin and crack down on fakes, the Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crab Industry Association has introduced various anti-counterfeiting measures, such as anti-counterfeiting codes and authorized specialty stores. At present, Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs use anti-counterfeiting crab tags to prevent forgery, and the chaotic situation has been brought under a certain degree of control, yet this has spawned a new chain of forgery: people can easily buy anti-counterfeiting crab tags online. Moreover, even the most reliable authorized specialty stores engage in forgery; many specialty stores under the Yangcheng Lake banner have in fact not obtained authorization permits. This shows that the crackdown on counterfeit Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs has not completely eliminated the "impostors", leaving both consumers and Yangcheng Lake suffering.

The trouble Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs suffer from "impostors" is a universal problem for designation-of-origin and branded products. In our country, the cost of counterfeiting goods is too low, the penalties are too light, and there is a lack of punitive measures, making it hard to curb unlawful merchants' impulse to seek profits. Therefore, the goal of eliminating fakes cannot be achieved by the strength of enterprises alone; only by relying on the law to severely punish counterfeiters and make the cost outweigh the gain can "no fakes under heaven" be achieved.