October 27, 2021 — A drop-off last year in seafood exports and the domestic wholesale market resulted in a pivot that increased direct marketing, retail and e-commerce sales.
Now a new survey is looking to help the commercial fishing industry continue the direct-marketing trend, as an important socio-economic hedge to protect against future shocks to the system and ensure food security.
A partnership between the University of Maine and federal agencies aims to help the commercial fishing industry understand local and regional seafood marketing practices, and help remove barriers to direct marketing.
UMaine initiated the partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The service is a department of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Over the next year, the partners will develop a national benchmark survey of direct seafood marketing practices in domestic wild-caught fisheries in an effort to strengthen food systems and coastal community resilience.
“Currently, there is a gap in national-level data on the domestic seafood system,” Joshua Stoll, one of the principal investigators for the project and a UMaine assistant professor of marine policy.
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