Saving Seafood

Massachusetts: Fisheries scientist takes the spotlight in Fishing Heritage Center’s ‘A Day in the Life’ series

March 15, 2018 — The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center’s A Day in the Life speaker series continues tonight, March 15, with SMAST fisheries scientist Crista Bank.

Beginning at 7 p.m., Bank will share her story and discuss the cooperative research she is currently conducting with the commercial fishing industry.

Bank received her bachelor’s degree in marine biology from UMass Dartmouth and spent the first part of her career teaching marine science at outdoor experiential education programs in New England, Southern California and the Florida Keys.

She transitioned to working on board traditional sailing vessels and traveled from the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, across the Atlantic, and eventually landed in New Bedford working on the Schooner Ernestina where she earned her 100 ton captain’s license.

She continued her science career first as a fisheries observer, and then as a fisheries biologist at the School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) working on collaborative research projects with commercial fishermen studying cod, monkfish, and halibut. She received her master’s degree in fisheries oceanography from SMAST in 2016 and continues to collaborate with commercial fishermen from New England to North Carolina.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Premium scallop line, rebranding effort part of the next chapter for Northern Wind

March 15, 2018 — New Bedford, Massachusetts-based seafood supplier Northern Wind, celebrated a milestone 30-year anniversary at the 2018 Seafood Expo North America event in Boston, Massachusetts. Company founders Ken Melanson and Michael Fernandes, along with Northern Wind’s co-CEO George S. Kouri, said they look forward to blossoming the success of Northern Wind even further in the years to come.

“We’re looking forward to the next chapter, because the first 30 years have been so robust and fruitful for the company,” Kouri said. “The next chapter for this company brings a lot of different opportunities for us – it brings opportunity for change; it brings opportunity to increase channels of distribution; it brings opportunities for new product sourcing; it brings opportunity for our re-branding efforts in packaging, re-facing the company in the image we want to project. It goes on and on, including Fair Trade.”

Besides scallops, the supplier has established a wide-ranging portfolio including ahi tuna, Atlantic salmon, North American lobster, monkfish, headfish, skate, and value-added seafood offerings. But the business has made its name with scallops.

“We have strict and strong historical relationships with vessels. We have state-of-the-art facilities with very well-financed capital improvements that enable us to process and produce probably more scallops than anyone in this industry,” Kouri said. “We’re very much known for our quality, our credibility, our loyalty to our supply side, and our customer service.”

A year ago, the company was the first scallop producer in the nation to receive Fair Trade certification. Building off demand from the foodservice sector for premium scallops, the company has launched its Captain’s Call Five-Star Premium Scallops.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Legit Fish is Adding Validity to a Peculiar Part of the Seafood Industry

March 14, 2018 — Certain entrepreneurs have an interest in a particular topic or industry that serves as an underlying theme to their career.

Taking a look at the career of Legit Fish Founder and CEO Michael Carroll, you will see he has been involved with the seafood industry for nearly 30 years. Carroll has worked as a commercial fisherman, in various marketing roles selling cod and haddock to grocery stores, and as a business consultant for seafood-companies.

And now, he is the founder of a seafood-focused tech startup in a city both catered to tech and seafood.

Legit Fish provides an administrative and tracking platform for seafood offloaders and independent fisherman to certify and market their fish as local. The software application replaces the current paper and Excel logistics systems with a cohesive cloud-based system that offers a scalable and unmatched level of traceability in the seafood industry.

The seafood offloader simply inputs the vessel, species, sizes, and relevant harvest information which is automatically transmitted to federal harvest records, inventory, sales, accounting etc. substantially reducing labor and transaction efficiencies. The application verifies the accuracy of the product information against the official government harvest record through proprietary API access and approves the printing of labels.

“Our software is built for traceability and logistics. If you lie on a federal harvest record, there are consequences, therefore we ground our product origin claims on this record. It’s up to us to make sure that the seafood distributors are honest, while still trying to be a business solution,” Carroll said. “With our current business partners, we can authenticate landings in Boston, New Bedford and Gloucester which represents an estimated 70% of the New England Groundfish Fishery and 30% of Atlantic Sea Scallops Fishery.”

Read the full story at VentureFizz

 

Marine data to empower fishermen with profitable information

March 13, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Commercial fishing in New England isn’t an industry that provides an aura technological advancements. However, Port Director Ed Anthes-Washburn in connection with Spherical Analytics looks to change that.

About 20 people assembled in a large space on the fourth floor Monday at 555 Pleasant St. to look at the future of data in Ocean Clusters, specifically within fishing.

“In the future, fishermen and farmers will own and control the data about their operations,” CEO of Spherical Analytics Chris Rezendes said. ”…It won’t be NOAA that owns or controls the best data about commercial fishing operations in the waters of the United States of America. It will be the fishermen.”

Those within the city should recognize Rezendes’ name from his work with ImPACT Labs and the Internet of Things. The organization recently merged with Context Labs, which specializes in supply-chain data.

Rezendes plans to bring this kind of data to Buzzards Bay this spring with Ocean Clusters.

He introduced the term “digital twin” to those in attendance, using a gumball machine as an example. The machine’s digital twin would provide data to its owner of its location, its properties, how many gumballs were distributed and more.

“Going forward people are starting to imagine more things might need digital twins. More things might be worth investing in digital twins. How about the lowly oyster?” Rezendes said. “How about if every single oyster could have a digital twin? Not realistic today, but what if you could get a digital twin for the bag of 50?”

With this technology, specific portions of catch could be tracked from sea to port to distributor to restaurant.

The technology debuting through pilot programs funded by Spherical Analytics this spring will establish data through water variations from currents to climate. The hope is to discover why some portions of water offer more abundant marine life than others.

“It’s a way where data can help an aquaculture owner to build up profitability in their product,” said Liz Wiley, the food security/climate resilience lead for Spherical Analytics.”

While businesses look toward increased management with a new world of data, Rezendes views the most useful tool as risk management.

He provided an example of temperature of seafood. If an alert is sent of a sudden increase in temperature, the business can immediately address the issue or abort the delivery saving any future cost associated with issue, which could include anything from the cost of delivering an unusable product, tarnishing a reputation, or causing the consumer to get ill.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

New Bedford’s seafood passion wows international buyers

March 12, 2018 –Fish buyers from around the world – 11 countries to be exact – congregated early Friday morning at the Wharfinger Building. While most partaking in the 14th annual fish buyer’s tour spoke English, an attribute of New Bedford communicated to all 30 people.

“They’re really passionate about their own businesses and what they sell to the people,” said Peter Lai, who traveled from Hong Kong to represent Sea and Earth Food Sources.

This year’s tour made stops at BASE New England Seafood Auction, Oceans Fleet, Northern Wind and Bergie’s Seafood.

Those on the tour also enjoyed a seafood lunch at the Waterfront Grille, which included a presentation from Kevin Stokesbury, a professor at UMass Dartmouth’s SMAST.

He offered a presentation that featured the latest research on trying to aid the groundfish fishery through the implementation of cameras.

It tied into what the buyers heard at nearly every stop on the trip regarding quotas, fishing seasons and regulations.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford City Officials Draft New Business Plan For Fishing Port

March 9, 2018 — New Bedford city officials have unveiled a draft plan to expand the business opportunities for the city’s lucrative port.

The Port of New Bedford is the number one commercial fishing port in the country, hauling in $9.8 billion each year. Ninety percent of that economic value is tied to the fishing industry.

However, city officials are looking to diversify the port’s business and they’re betting on offshore wind.

Mayor Jon Mitchell said according to a study by the federal Department of Energy, one of the windiest spots along the Eastern seaboard is about 25 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Read and listen to the full story at Rhode Island NPR

 

New Bedford Auction Owners Sign with Legit Fish – A Traceability Company, To improve Transparancy

March 9, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Legit Fish, a provider of advanced seafood logistics and traceability technology, today announced a deal with BASE New England who operates the largest seafood auction in New England and is based in New Bedford and Gloucester MA.

Legit Fish Inc. developed and is implementing this first of its kind, end to end logistics and traceability solution with Atlantic Coast Seafood Inc. (Boston MA).

This innovative cloud-based software application provides the domestic seafood industry with operational efficiencies as well as new cutting-edge marketing tools, linking off-loading, government reporting, inventory management, sales, accounting and an industry leading traceability system. The traceability application utilizes a patient pending system which offers the retail trade an unmatched level of traceability based on verification against the official government harvest records.

On March 8th 2018, Legit Fish Inc. signed a contract to further develop this system with BASE New England. In addition to the software application developed in Boston, Legit Fish Inc. will be expanding this system by creating a custom Auction application which will offer a high level of versatility and functionality.

The application runs on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. This technology solution provides auction participants with the ability to use their mobile devices to purchase seafood products on the Auction platform and allow vessels to transmit hail information direct into the software via a multi language voice response app.

These advancements for BASE New England will allow them to clearly monitor “on the water” hail information as well as product sales compared to dealer reported federal records.

These third-party compliance tools have positive implications for BASE New England and the port of New Bedford in their effort to reopen the New England Groundfish Fishery Sector IX.

The owners of BASE have been very vocal in demanding resumption of fishing by Sector IX vessels because much of the catch of these vessels flows through the New Bedford Auction.   During the time when Carlos Rafael was the leading groundfish operator in New Bedford, he was also the biggest supplier of fish through the auction.

Legit Fish Inc. will be attending the 2018 Boston Seafood Show and will be available for both product demos and detailed explanations of this new innovative technology.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Legit Fish rolls out the first cloud-based traceability technology for Massachusetts scallop and groundfish

March 8, 2018 — The following was released by Legit Fish:

Legit Fish (www.legitfishinc.com), a provider of advanced seafood logistics and traceability technology, today announced a deal with BASE New England who operates the largest seafood auction in New England and is based in New Bedford and Gloucester MA.

Legit Fish Inc. developed and is implementing this first of its kind, end to end logistics and traceability solution with Atlantic Coast Seafood Inc. (Boston MA). This innovative cloud-based software application provides the domestic seafood industry with operational efficiencies as well as new cutting-edge marketing tools, linking off-loading, government reporting, inventory management, sales, accounting and an industry leading traceability system. The traceability application utilizes a patient pending system which offers the retail trade an unmatched level of traceability based on verification against the official government harvest records.

On March 8th 2018, Legit Fish Inc. signed a contract to further develop this system with BASE New England. In addition to the software application developed in Boston, Legit Fish Inc. will be expanding this system by creating a custom Auction application which will offer a high level of versatility and functionality. The application runs on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. This technology solution provides auction participants with the ability to use their mobile devices to purchase seafood products on the Auction platform and allow vessels to transmit hail information direct into the software via a multi language voice response app. These advancements for BASE New England will allow them to clearly monitor “on the water” hail information as well as product sales compared to dealer reported federal records. These third-party compliance tools have positive implications for BASE New England and the port of New Bedford in their effort to reopen the New England Groundfish Fishery Sector IX. Considering NOAA’s requirement for increased accountability measures to the operations plan of Sector IX, this revolutionary app provides a substantial technological improvement for the fishery and the sector.

Legit Fish Inc. will be attending the 2018 Boston Seafood Show and will be available for both product demos and detailed explanations of this new innovative technology.

About Legit Fish Inc.
Legit Fish Inc. provides Seafood off-loaders a complete cost-efficient ERP solution. Our innovative cloud-based application can be integrated with various other systems and provides an industry leading traceability system that is verified to the official government harvest records. This new system offers supply chain participants and retailers complete confidence in the origin of their products as well as a new innovative solution to market products. Further information can be found at www.legitfishinc.com.

 

US suppliers in love with ‘seafood speed dating’

March 8, 2018 — The meeting Steve Costas had with a South Korean buyer at Food Export-Northeast’s 2017 “seafood speed dating” event, in Boston, Massachusetts, lasted just 20 minutes, scarcely more than a brief flirtation.

But less than a year later Marder Trawling, the New Bedford, Massachusetts-based supplier for which Costas is an account executive, wound up selling the Korean company a container filled with a mix of its wild-caught fish products.

Of course at seafood speed dating, there’s also the chance that the object of your affection will be swept away by another suitor.

“It’s always a friendly event and I believe there is a camaraderie amongst the suppliers even though you know in 30 minutes your customer or a potential customer will be meeting with a competitor who in most cases will be offering them the same species,” Costas told Undercurrent News.

Costas is back again in Boston, Massachusetts, this week along with representatives for no less than 17 seafood suppliers from the northeastern US, all hoping to move containers of fish and, fingers crossed, establish long-term relationships with one or more of the 15 buyers from no less than 13 countries also there.

South Korea will be represented again, as will China, Japan, Colombia, Spain and the United Arab Emirate to name a few. Almost all of the buyers are looking to acquire scallops and lobsters, though some also come from countries where dogfish, monkfish and skate are in demand, all products sold by Marder Trawling using its recently acquired dock in Chatham, Massachusetts.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

MASSACHUSETTS: New Name, New Goals for New Bedford Harbor Officials

March 8, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — It’s tough to argue that the most-well known attribute of New Bedford is its internationally known commercial fishing port. After all, it is called the Whaling City.

Since its establishment on the shores of Acushnet in the 18th Century, New Bedford has grown into the highest grossing commercial fishing port in the United States, and has been an unmatched center of the industry on the East Coast for years.

Despite hundreds of years of success, port leaders and city officials are planning to grow and diversify it even more. On Wednesday, Port Director Ed Anthes-Washburn, Mayor Jon Mitchell, and Dr. Brian Rothschild announced that the Harbor Development Commission (HDC) has changed its name to the New Bedford Port Authority (NBPA) as part of a five-year strategic plan to further expand and diversify the port, as well as enhance its operations.

“We were formerly the New Bedford Harbor Development Commission which was developed in 1957. In 1957 the focus was on a smaller subset of things. Today we have our hands in a lot of different areas and we’re a very diverse and vibrant port,” Washburn explained. “We want regionally, nationally, and internationally to be recognized and the New Bedford Port Authority moniker does that a little better than the New Bedford Harbor Development Commission.”

Read the full story at WBSM