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Jerry Gilbertson, meat manager for Juneau's Alaskan & Proud market, and thousands of his counterparts across the United States, are redesigning their store's seafood labels and ordering reams of new stickers to comply with a new federal law on April 4.

On that date, retailers must begin labeling their fresh and frozen fish and shellfish with their country of origin and method of production - wild or farmed. Supporters of the label are hoping it will give wild Alaska salmon a marketing edge over farmed fish.

"It's better for the public," said Gilbertson, who thinks the rule was overdue. "People want to know if their seafood is from the USA."

But not everyone is satisfied with the country-of-origin labeling (COOL) rule. For now, it's an interim rule, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is reviewing public comments before it publishes a final version in the fall.

Safeway's regional district manager Glenn Peterson said COOL's record keeping requirements are "pretty draconian." The rule requires seafood processors and retailers to keep a one-year paper trail for their inventory.

"There will be a significant cost in recording the data," said Peterson, who is dedicating entire file cabinets to store the COOL records. "We've gotten down to where we are trying to be as error-proof as possible."

American consumers will see a price increase of less than two-tenths of a cent per pound on affected seafood, according to USDA estimates.

Under the interim rule, all processed seafood is excluded from COOL labeling.

Many Alaska commercial fishermen, state officials and national public interest groups have asked the USDA to go back to an earlier version of the rule that included products such as canned, pouched or smoked salmon, as well as salmon burgers.

"Canned salmon is traditionally the most important product for the Alaska salmon industry, while pouch and burger products are the two cutting-edge products developed by the industry," said Charles Abernathy, the state's associate director for commerce, in his Feb. 2 letter to USDA.

At least 100 Alaska commercial fishermen sent letters to the USDA this winter asking it to include canned and smoked salmon in the final rule. The Alaska Legislature and Gov. Frank Murkowski also lobbied for the revision.

"We hope canned and smoked salmon will be in the final rule," said Mark Vinsel, executive director of the United Fishermen of Alaska. "Our fingers are crossed."

Some grocery merchants, large processor groups and foreign nations have criticized the new rules for other reasons.

In its written comments to USDA, Canada called the COOL rule "fundamentally flawed" and "trade distorting" and asked for its repeal. Canada is a large-scale producer of farmed salmon and it has threatened to fight the rule, using the leverage of North American and global trade treaties.

China asked the USDA in its official comments to provide liability protection for buyers and sellers if their seafood products are incorrectly labeled "by mistake."

But Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C.-based consumer rights group, told the USDA that the rule needs to be more stringent, requiring labeling for all processed seafood and bigger fines for violators.

Under the interim rule, violations could result in civil penalties of up to $10,000.

• Elizabeth Bluemink can be reached at elizabeth.bluemink@juneauempire.com.