Saving Seafood

Albertsons adds seafood traceability monitoring

March 8, 2018 — Albertsons Companies, which operates more than 2,300 grocery stores in the United States, has selected Trace Register to trace its seafood products.

Trace Register’s TR+ Analytics with CMCA (continuous monitoring continuous auditing) will enable Albertsons Companies to meet sustainability specifications in the seafood supply chain on every shipment, according to Albertsons.

“Trace Register’s leading-edge monitoring and analytics will help track the movement of our products from the oceans or farm all the way to our U.S. distribution centers so we can verify that our requirements for sustainable, responsible sourcing are met,” said Anthony Snow, director of seafood for Albertsons Companies.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

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.

 

Barcode-driven product tracking leads the way in enabling seafood traceability

October 23, 2017 — Beep. Beep. That ubiquitous sound, heard six billion times a day at the checkout counters in grocery stores and shops around the world, could be integral to the next phase of seafood traceability.

Barcodes – and their cousin, the QR code – may seem like simple things, but the data they hold could be the difference between knowing the origin of a fish or not.

For fishermen, seafood processors and others in the industry, better traceability and more efficient product tracking can reduce logistics costs while building customer loyalty. For environmentalists and regulators, traceability offers another tool to fight illegal and unsustainable fishing.

Compared to other food industries, seafood is behind in its use of GS1 Standards, the most widely used product-tracking system in the world, according to Angela Fernandez, the vice president of retail grocery and food service for GS1 U.S.

Though some seafood companies are making major progress, only about 25 percent have traceability programs underway, Fernandez said. Other food industries are further along. The meat industry, for instance, has been using GS1 Standards for almost two decades. More than 65 percent of the produce industry has implemented programs.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com

Seafood Traceability Rule to Remain in Place, Says Court

June 28, 2017 — As reported previously on this blog, concerns about illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) seafood fraud, led to a proposed rule to establish a traceability program for certain seafood species. The final rule establishing the Seafood Import Monitoring Program was published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Department of Commerce, in the December 9, 2016 Federal Register.

The Program established permitting, data reporting and recordkeeping requirements for the importation of certain priority fish and fish products—including abalone, several types of cod and tuna, red snapper, shrimp and swordfish—that were identified as being especially vulnerable to seafood fraud. The rule requires seafood importers to trace the origin of the fish they import to either the specific boat that caught the full fish or a “single collection point,” to the day the fish was caught, and to the sector of the specific ocean where the fish was caught.

On January 6, 2017, the National Fisheries Institute, Alfa International Seafood, Inc. and others filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging what they called a “Midnight Final Rule.” In the suit, the plaintiffs questioned whether the Department of Commerce cut corners by, among other things, refusing to disclose for public comment the data that it relied on to identify the seafood species subject to the rule and by allowing “a low-level bureaucrat to issue a binding final rule absent a valid delegation of authority from the Secretary.”

In a June 22, 2017 ruling, Judge Amit P. Mehta did not overturn the final rule establishing the Seafood Import Monitoring Program. Rather, Judge Mehta wrote: “The proper course at this juncture—just months before the rule goes into effect—is to defer ruling on Plaintiffs’ broader challenge to the agency’s authority to engage in rule-making and, instead, afford the federal defendants an opportunity to submit a signed statement from a principal officer within the Department of Commerce that ratifies the rule.”

Read the full story at The National Law Review

Meet the 5 Seafood Champions of 2017

June 6, 2017 — Ned Bell, the Ocean Wise executive chef at Vancouver Aquarium, founded Chefs for Oceans in 2014 to raise awareness about sustainable seafood.

The organization is “creating a movement that is impacting the way people think about the seafood they eat,” according to Bell’s nomination as a Seafood Champion finalist in March 2017.

On Monday, 5 June, Bell was named one of the winners of the Seafood Champion Awards for Advocacy (the award will be shared with the International Pole & Line Foundation).

“I am so honored to be considered a seafood champion,” Bell told SeafoodSource. “I’m a proud of being a chef, and my community is the one I want to engage.”

Prior to working at the Vancouver Aquarium, Bell was the head chef at Lumiere and at YEW Kitchen in the Four Seasons, both highly regarded restaurants in Vancouver. In both restaurants, Bell championed local and sustainable seafood.

“Ned’s vibrant personality, infectious enthusiasm and commitment to improving the health of Canada’s lakes, oceans, and rivers have made a significant impact on those around him,” Four Seasons Vancouver General Manager Martin Sinclair said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Tuna Traceability Declaration 2020 seeks traceability, social commitments from tuna industry

June 2, 2017 — A new “Tuna Traceability Declaration” is seeking to encourage the tuna industry to improve sustainability and social conditions in the tuna-fishing industry.

The Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration was created in advance of United Nations Ocean Conference, taking place 5 to 9 June in New York City. The declaration is not legally binding, but is meant to encourage actions and partnerships from and between tuna harvesters, processors, retailers, traders and related nonprofits and concerned governments, to improve the health of tuna populations worldwide. The initiative is in response to the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources.

The declaration is being promoted by the nonprofit World Economic Forum, which brings together global leaders from diverse backgrounds, including business and government to aid the organization’s mission of being “committed to improving the state of the world.”

According to the World Economic Forum, The declaration requires the following commitments from its signees:

  1. Tuna traceability commitment
    1. Pledge that all tuna products in our supply chains will be fully traceable to the vessel and trip dates, and that this information will be disclosed upon request at the point of sale either on the packaging or via an online system.
  2. Commitment to a socially responsible tuna supply chain
    1. Pledge to eliminate any form of slavery and ensure suppliers at least meet minimum social standards in management practices as recommended in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization’s conventions and recommendations.
  3. Commitment to environmentally responsible tuna sources
    1. Pledge to source from tuna fisheries that have implemented: a) Robust science-based management plans, including harvest strategies that can maintain stocks at, or restore them at least to, levels which can produce maximum sustainable yield; and b) Measures to ensure that impacts of fisheries on the environment are sustainable, including bycatch mitigation techniques.
    2. Put this pledge into effect by continuing to explore new opportunities to support the multi-stakeholder initiatives mentioned above, and work to continually increase sourcing from tuna fisheries certified by schemes that are internationally recognized by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

FishWise announces partnership with seafood supplier North Atlantic, Inc. to work on supply chain sustainability and transparency

March 6, 2017 — The following has been released by FishWise:

FishWise announced today a new partnership with Portland, Maine-based frozen seafood supplier North Atlantic, Inc. (NAI) and its Indonesian subsidiary, Bali Seafood International (BSI). This partnership aims to further advance and communicate NAI/BSI’s commitment to sustainable and socially responsible seafood while exploring new opportunities to expand their influence in the industry.

Recognizing the importance of both sustainable fisheries and communities, NAI/BSI and its partners have invested in a new initiative to build infrastructure in the Lesser Sunda region of Indonesia that will integrate numerous fishing support services, including cold chain technologies, fisheries management, and education. Their new fishery community centers are expected to generate improvements in food safety and waste, traceability, and socioeconomic indicators, alongside environmental gains. BSI will pay premiums to fishers operating through the community centers, incentivizing artisanal fishermen to adopt more responsible practices.

NAI and BSI are seeking to share this innovative commercially-sponsored fishery management model with industry and broader sustainability stakeholders given its potential value in linking artisanal fishermen directly to seafood markets and improving livelihoods throughout fishing communities. This work builds on NAI’s engagement in fishery improvement projects and traceability, as well as its long-term partnerships with retailers to direct supply chains and address critical responsible harvesting practices.

“North Atlantic has been a trusted vendor to our retail partners for many years and we are excited to begin working with them more formally,” said William Wall, FishWise Distributor Division Director. “We at FishWise are always aiming to create and promote progressive sustainability leaders. North Atlantic’s ambition is unique — they are taking direct responsibility for the wellbeing of the community in which they operate and are developing mechanisms for lasting change, which we’re keen to communicate given the potential for these efforts to serve as a model for other companies.”

Read the full release here

Canadian seafood industry braces for new U.S. traceability rules

February 2, 2017 — Canadian seafood producers will need to “raise their game” to satisfy new American seafood traceability rules, according to federal Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

The Seafood Import Monitoring Program was one of the final acts of the Obama administration.

It will require much more detailed information about catches before they are allowed into the United States.

“We need to raise our game to ensure that the Americans receive the evidence they require that our fisheries are compliant, as they are,” LeBlanc said.

Read the full story at CBC News

MSC piloting innovative seafood traceability tool

August 17, 2015 — The following has been released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

The MSC is exploring new ways of providing additional protection from seafood fraud in its supply chain. Over the past two years we have been piloting a new traceability tool, the MSC Online Transaction Solution (MOTS), and are seeking feedback to shape its continued development.

Pioneering tool

To date there has been no online tool available that can securely handle and verify information about seafood supply chain transactions on a global scale.

The new tool cross-checks and verifies sales and purchases of seafood products made by processing, distribution and retail companies as they move through the complex global supply chain.

Since its development in 2012, the online verification tool has been trialled in seven European and fifteen Chinese companies. The current plan is to roll the tool out to over 3,000 supply chain companies handling certified products in over 34,000 sites around the world.

Invitation to help shape the tool

This is the second and final opportunity for industry partners to offer their expertise, and help shape an effective tool that meets current and future industry demands.

How to take part in consultation

The public consultation is open from 17 August to 18 September 2015.

If you are a seafood industry professional, you can:

Share your insights in our online consultation >

Join our online interactive MOTS workshop > (2 and 3 September)

The workshops are designed for supply chain companies to offer practical solutions on seafood transaction and verification. Spaces are limited, so please register your interest by email to standards@msc.org.

Meeting industry needs and global best-practice

“The MSC’s segregation and traceability program is widely recognised as one of the most effective systems for tracking seafood along the supply chain” said Titia Sjenitzer, Senior Product Integrity Manager at the MSC. “However, the seafood industry is dynamic. Demand for certified sustainable seafood continues to grow, and other certification schemes such as the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), are working with the MSC and using our Chain of Custody Standard. This means that more scalable monitoring mechanisms are required to ensure the MSC’s system remains efficient and effective”.

Over 3,000 organisations, operating from over 34,000 sites in more than 60 countries currently hold an MSC Chain of Custody certificate. These organisations are responsible for handling over 18,000 products that are sold with the MSC ecolabel in around 100 countries.

DNA testing shows that 99% of MSC labelled products are correctly labelled, demonstrating the integrity of the current system. However, the MSC is seeking to evolve its tools and systems in order to ensure that its Chain of Custody Standard continues to lead the industry in ensuring a traceable supply chain for seafood.

Using latest technologies, the tool will complement, but not replace, the existing MSC Chain of Custody system.

“We took part in trialling the MSC Online Transaction Solution and felt it is an important addition to our business. The tool provides us with added confidence that our brand and products are running through a secure and genuine supply chain handling only certified seafood” said Alex Olsen, A. Espersen A/S, MSC certified processing company in Denmark.

If the pilot proves successful, the new tool will be implemented across the full program by 2018. The tool will verify seafood sale and purchase transaction information (such as volume, species, invoice number and transaction date) to mitigate the risk of non-sustainable products being labelled and sold as certified.