Saving Seafood

Seafood Expo North America 2019 gets underway in Boston

March 18, 2019 — It was a weekend of hard work for global seafood product suppliers and processing vendors, who arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in anticipation of this year’s Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America event, taking place from 17 to 19 March.

Considered to be the largest seafood event in North America, the expo saw 1,329 exhibitors from 49 countries in attendance at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center for opening day on Sunday, 17 March.

More than 256,690 net square feet of exhibit space is being occupied at SENA19, event organizer Diversified Communications said, with new exhibitor participation from the country of Latvia and an array of companies including: Intershell International Corp, Plymouth Rock Oyster Growers, John Nagle Co, Pangea Shellfish Company, Cape Seafoods Inc., North Atlantic Pacific Seafood, Red’s Best, Aquacultural Research Corp., Independent Brazil, Dutch Seafood Company/Foppen/Klaas Puul, Niceland Seafood, and Top Claw Lobster & Seafood Limited.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Legit Fish to Launch Technology That Traces Origin of Seafood

March 16, 2019 — The following was released by Legit Fish:

Legit Fish, provider of a first-of-its-kind seafood traceability technology, is launching its application this weekend that allows an unprecedented level of transparency for consumers while ensuring a seafood’s origin actually matches its packaging. Legit Fish will unveil its new tool at the Seafood Expo North America in Boston on Sunday, March 17th, 2019 at booth 289.

“Increasing stories around seafood fraud are eroding consumer trust; we’re seeing repetitive cases where seafood is claimed to be from local waters when it is in fact imported,” said Michael Carroll, CEO of Legit Fish. “The technology we are bringing to the market changes all of that because our traceability system is verified with the official government harvest records. No one else is doing this.”

Legit Fish is already partnering with the BASE Auction Company, helping it launch the most technologically advanced logistics and auction system in the world with its Groundfish and Sea Scallop business. The system enables vessels to hail quantities into the auction that can be sold via a real-time cloud-based platform, with transactions clearing simultaneously in milliseconds. BASE runs its auctions in two of the most treasured fishing ports in the United States; New Bedford, MA, the most economically significant, and in Gloucester, MA, the country’s oldest.

The traceability software of Legit Fish (www.legitfishinc.com) is able to track seafood from the dock to the dinner table, offering confidence for buyers and leveling the playing field for vessel owners, assuring them that when their product travels down the supply chain, it can’t be substituted with inferior product, and with that, a lower price. Legit Fish does this through a cloud-based software that provides a binding chain of custody control that ensures the product featured meets the claim on the package.

The traceability technology comes at a time when the industry is coming under fire about its truthfulness in packaging. Just last week, the conservation group Oceana put out a report that found 1 in every 3 businesses sold at least one kind of seafood that wasn’t labeled properly, with Snapper (42%) and Sea Bass (55%) having the highest samples that were fraudulent. And a recent investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office found “more than one in four” seafood purchases were mislabeled and “about two-thirds” of the supermarket chains reviewed had at least one instance of mislabeling.

“This type of rigorous trace application will offer domestic fisheries a tool to ensure their products are not being knocked off in the marketplace by imported or even farmed goods,” says Carroll. “Currently there is no other scalable traceability tool that concretely verifies seafood products against the government harvest records.”

When fully implemented, the data offered by Legit Fish can be accessed by seafood retailers, processors, dealers and consumers with the scan of a QR code that provides not only the port where the fish originated, but its species, location, landing dates, and the vessel it came off of.

With this in mind, Legit Fish is attracting interest from discerning retailers who want better assurance and controls over the origin of their products; Legit Fish has already forged a number of partnerships in the industry and is currently rolling out its technology with a retailer.

“We will change the way the seafood industry does business,” said Carroll. “The Legit Fish technology will substantially increase transparency that will benefit both the fisherman and the consumer.”

For more information, please contact:

Michael Carroll

Legit Fish

617-640-8126 (cell)

mike@legitfishinc.com

 

SCeMFiS Members Attend Seafood Expo North America Following Second National Science Foundation Grant

March 15, 2019 — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries:

The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) brings together industry and academia to conduct groundbreaking fisheries research, and is the only research center funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) dedicated exclusively to fisheries science. As a result of its research track record, NSF awarded SCeMFiS a “Phase 2” second 5-year grant to continue its work. This funding shows that SCeMFiS met the high expectations of NSF for Phase 2 approval, a feat that not every Phase 1 center accomplishes.

Industry members of SCeMFiS will attend this year’s Seafood Expo North America and are available to be interviewed.

Factors that contributed to NSF’s determination that SCeMFiS merited a Phase 2 award included:

  • Successfully undergoing a vigorous 5-year NSF review that included external reviewers;
  • Ongoing solid support from contributing industry member companies and organizations;
  • An extremely high retention rate of contributing members;
  • The exemplary quality of research conducted by SCeMFiS principal investigators.

With its newly approved grant, SCeMFiS plans to use the next 5 years to focus on ways to reduce scientific uncertainty in fisheries science; the effects of climate change on fish stocks and fishing communities; resolving issues between fishing and offshore energy interests; and developing sound ecosystem-based fisheries management.

Since its founding in 2013, SCeMFiS has been at the forefront of finfish and shellfish research. Working with members of the fishing industry, SCeMFiS scientists have conducted innovative studies, including producing the first age-frequency distributions for ocean quahog, and being one of the only institutions to study species like chub mackerel and longfin squid.

“The work of our academic partners at SCeMFiS has been vital in improving our understanding of the species we harvest,” said Jeff Reichle, CEO of Lund’s Fisheries, which was one of the original members of the SCeMFiS Industry Advisory Board. “The more we know about these species, the better we’re able to harvest them sustainably.”

The SCeMFiS industry members attending the Seafood Expo are committed to continuing this scientific partnership. Industry members on the SCeMFiS Industry Advisory Board review, approve, and fund all SCeMFiS projects, which are selected to fill gaps in data and meet the industry’s unfilled scientific needs.

“In the last five years, we’ve been able to study and improve the understanding of some of the most pressing scientific issues facing the fishing industry,” said Center Director Dr. Eric Powell, of the University of Southern Mississippi, one of the academic members of SCeMFiS. “We are looking forward to continue our collaborative partnerships and tackle the scientific questions affecting fishermen the most.”

SCeMFiS members will be at the following locations at Seafood Expo North America:

Lund’s Fisheries: Booth 951

Sea Watch International: Booth 423

The Town Dock: Booth 2133

Seafreeze Ltd.: Booth 2407

Bumble Bee

International buyers find ‘world-renowned seafood’ in New Bedford

March 15, 2019 — Seafood buyers from 14 countries visited the city’s leading seafood companies on Friday.

Buyers from Asia, Europe and the Middle East toured BASE New England Seafood Auction, Bergie’s Seafood, Atlantic Capes Fisheries and East Coast Seafood. Countries represented on the tour included China, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom and Vietnam.

“As the most valuable commercial fishing port in the nation for the 18th year in a row, New Bedford is also home to 50-plus seafood processors,” said Ed Anthes-Washburn, executive director of the Port of New Bedford, in a statement. “More than a million pounds of seafood enters and exits the port on a daily basis, so it’s always a pleasure to showcase the port to potential international buyers”

The buyers are in Boston for the 2019 Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America, the largest seafood trade event in North America.

Food Export Northeast, a nonprofit export promotion group, sponsored the foreign buyer tour, which consisted of 19 “vetted serious buyers,” said Colleen Coyne, Seafood program coordinator for Food Export-Northeast.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Seafood Expo North America – 2019 Expo Preview

March 12, 2019 — We look forward to welcoming those of you attending the 39th edition of Seafood Expo North America / Seafood Processing North America in Boston next week. This year’s edition will feature more than 1,300 exhibiting companies from 49 countries and continues to be the largest seafood event in North America.

There is a lot for you to see and do at the expo:

The conference program is packed with educational sessions covering corporate social responsibility, seafood business and leadership, aquaculture, food safety, policy, sustainability, traceability and transparency.  It includes the free-to-all keynote presentation from Dr. Lindsey Piegza, chief economist for Stifel Fixed Income, who will discuss the pace of the U.S. economic recovery and what it means for future growth, interest rates, and monetary policy. She’ll also cover macro-economic consumer behavior trends and the potential economic effects of new Federal Reserve policy initiatives. A series of free sponsored presentations will also take place in the conference area on Monday and Tuesday morning.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Special events featured throughout Seafood Expo North America 2019

March 12, 2019 — Thousands of seafood buyers, importers, distributors, and processors are expected to arrive in Boston, Massachusetts this weekend for the kick-off of Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America 2019, taking place from 17 to 19 March.

Considered to be the largest seafood industry event in North America, the expo features thousands of exhibitor booths stocked with products, solutions, and samples, as well as a wide array of live chef demonstrations, sponsored presentations, and other special events open to all attendees.

Topical presentations will begin on Sunday, 17 March, when keynote speaker Dr. Lindsey Piegza, the chief economist at Stifel Fixed Income, will offer an economic update to attendees covering the current pace of recovery in the United States and what it means for future growth, interest rates, and monetary policy. Piegza will also touch on macro-economic consumer behavior trends and the potential economic effects of new Federal Reserve policy initiatives.

A series of free sponsored presentations will take place on Monday (18 March) and Tuesday (19 March) in the morning. According to expo and conference organizer Diversified Communications, on Monday beginning at 9:15 a.m., attendees will be able to choose from two presentations: one on traceability standards, sponsored by the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability, and a second on utilizing ROVs for sustainable aquaculture, sponsored by Deep Trekker. The sponsored series will conclude on Tuesday with another sustainability-focused session, “Ocean Plastic Pollution: From the Garbage Patch to your Plate,” sponsored by Thai Union and running from 8:45 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Gloucester looks to up seafood matchmaking

January 28, 2019 — The city continued its outreach to Gloucester seafood businesses on Thursday, hoping to bolster its presence — and the array of fresh Gloucester seafood products — at the upcoming Seafood Expo North America in Boston.

Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken and other city officials met at City Hall with executives from Mortillaro Lobster Inc., Intershell and Cape Seafoods and its North Atlantic and Pacific Seafood subsidiary to expound on the benefits of attending one of the largest seafood shows in the world.

In a sense, the city was preaching to members of the choir. Intershell and Cape Seafoods already have booked their own booths at the show, which is set to run March 17 to 19 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Survey on US seafood consumption contains surprises

January 23, 2019 — While almost half of all Americans eat little to no seafood, many Americans love the stuff – and are willing to spend more time shopping for it and more money to buy it so they can eat it regularly.

The Food Marketing Institute’s first-ever Power of Seafood survey of more than 2,000 U.S. shoppers found numerous reasons as to why more Americans aren’t buying seafood, and discovered hurdles preventing even the most ardent fans of seafood from buying more.

FMI Vice President of Fresh Foods Rick Stein presented the initial results of the survey at the 2019 Global Seafood Market Conference in Coronado, California, U.S.A. on 17 January.  FMI surveyed 2,096 grocery shoppers representative of the general U.S. population in regard to geography, age, and gender. FMI also incorporated data from sources including IRI, Nielson, Technomics, and Datassentials into its results. The full results of the survey will be released at the 2019 Seafood Expo North America in Boston, Massachusetts, in March.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Protecting Alaska’s Fisheries

May 2, 2018 — Combating illegal fishing on the high seas, also known as international waters, which have no sovereignty, has been a thorn in the side of every nation that has a coastline. Relatively recent issues such as fishery sustainability, climate change, and deliberately mislabeling fish and fish products have prompted an effort to mount a worldwide coordinated response to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU).

This issue and others were addressed at the annual Seafood Expo North America in Boston in March. The expo attracted 1,341 exhibiting companies from 57 countries—including new attendees from Fiji, Oman, Ukraine, and Venezuela. The exhibitors included not only the fishing industry but companies that support it such as transportation companies, equipment suppliers, and other support organizations. All told the Seafood Expo attracted more than 22,600 attendees from more than 120 countries.

An international panel offered perspective on IUU fishing, which violates national laws and/or internationally agreed upon conservation and management measures in effect worldwide. The panel was titled, “Fighting IUU Fishing and Seafood Fraud: Enhancing Traceability and Transparency through Strengthened Governance Frameworks.”

Participants included Giuliana Torta, counselor for Environment, Climate Action, and Maritime Affairs with the EU delegation to the United States; Somboon Siriraksophon, Fishery Policy and Program coordinator at the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center; Rune Dragset, deputy head of unit in the Seafood Section of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries; and, Deirdre Warner-Kramer, acting deputy director of the Office of Marine Conservation, US Department of State. All panel members agreed that cooperation across the world and a strict set of controls on how fish get to market are vital to dampening the problem of international fishing and seafood fraud.

Read the full story at Alaska Business Magazine

 

Gloucester Times: Seafood industry still rewards hard work, innovation

March 20, 2018 — There’s no disputing these are difficult times for New England fishermen, with ever-tightening regulations, a diminishing catch and the added uncertainty brought on by climate change.

Among the dour news, however, there are hints of hope and optimism among those who feel the nation’s oldest industry still has something to offer.

Take, for example, the city of Gloucester’s outreach at the Seafood Expo North America in Boston earlier this month. The show, which attracts almost 22,000 seafood buyers and processors from more than 100 countries, is seemingly made for folks willing to hustle. And Gloucester was hustling.

For the last four years, the city has used the expo as a way to market itself to the rest of the country and across the world. And the Gloucester Fresh branding effort has paid off, most notably two years ago, when the Ninety Nine Restaurant chain agreed to feature Gloucester-landed haddock on its menu.

This year, the Gloucester crew was touting monkfish, an ugly creature that is nevertheless delicious when prepared by Cape Ann chefs, with a VIP tasting for about 75 buyers and processors. Meanwhile, Sal Di Stefano, the city’s economic development director, was pitching lobsters to a pair of South Korean visitors.

“They told me that all they do is buy Canadian lobsters, but they keep hearing more and more about American lobster,” Di Stefano told reporter Sean Horgan.

“We explained that American lobster is better and that Massachusetts lobsters are the best of the American species. Then we had them talk with (lobsterman) Mark Ring and they were thrilled to actually meet a lobsterman. We wouldn’t have had those interactions if we weren’t here.”

These relationships matter. The connection between Gloucester’s ocean-to-table deal with the Ninety Nine chain continues today, even as the local processors supplying the fish have changed.

“Chef George (Tagarelis) and I have been in our restaurants all week long with general managers and kitchen managers training on our brand-new spring menu, which begins April 2 and features ‘Gloucester Fresh’ simply seasoned fresh haddock,” the chain’s president, Charlie Noyes, said last week. “I’m sure our guests at the Ninety Nine will be as excited as we are that we continue to serve this local favorite.”

Indeed, change is everywhere, even at 170-year-old Gorton’s of Gloucester, one of the nation’s oldest continually operating businesses.

Even as it outlasts the competition, Gorton’s, with 425 employees, has remained an iconic part of the seafood industry, with much of its recent success attributed to trying to “connect with customers in unique ways,” Judson Reis, the company’s president, told members of the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce earlier this month.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times