Mainebiz

V O L . X X I N O. X I X A U G U S T 2 4 , 2 0 1 5 16 F or generations Maine's fi sh- ermen have used nature — both their own internal sense of navigation and measure- ments like water temperature — to fi nd rich fi shing grounds. But with increasing competition, broader distri- bution, more government regulations and a desire by customers to trace food sources, the seafood industry is turning to technology to help automate tasks from the boat through the dock, proces- sors, distributors, wholesalers, retailers and onto the consumer's plate. "Boat to Plate" is one such nascent eff ort by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association and other collaborators. e goal is within a few years to create a database including the boat, fi sherman, catch, distribution and other information so the seafood can be traced if there's a food safety issue, and so consum- ers can download an app to learn about the fi sh on their plate using a QR or quick response code, the two-dimensional code that contains and retrieves more information more quickly than a traditional bar code. "We're thinking of ways to get more value out of fi sh and catch more fi sh," explains Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association in Brunswick. "Farmers are successful [in the farm-to-table movement]. Until recently, we haven't been." One reason is tracing the source of a fi sh can be diffi cult if a consumer doesn't buy it directly from the fi sher- man. Martens and others say that at the dock, fi sh are sold to distributors and can go through processors who cut off heads and gut fi sh from diff er- ent boats all in the same sink. "At the end of the day [it can be] hard to say who caught what," says Martens. "Consumers should care about where their fi sh comes from," Martens says, adding that the project could be a good way to tout sustainably har- vested New England fi sh and to "tell a fantastic story about a fi sh." Jen Levin, sustainable seafood pro- gram manager at GMRI, says the col- laborators have created a proof-of-con- cept smartphone app and have $175,000 in grant funding through Maine Coast. e eff ort is now focused on creating the back-end data system that will col- lect and store the information. She says the system will be open source so everyone can use it. e fi rst meeting this coming October will include information technology specialists. " e end goal is to empower consumers about where seafood is coming from," Levin says. "Another goal is to help the Gulf of Maine seafood industry." She adds, "Some 91% of seafood consumed in the United States is imported. A sophisticated data man- agement system can help make sea- food businesses more effi cient." More data needed Getting more out of Maine's almost half-billion-dollar fi sheries industry is critical for fi shermen and for the state. Maine's commercial fi sheries had the third-highest landings by value in both 2012 and 2013, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's annual "Fisheries of the United States" report. Landings of all types of fi sh in 2013 topped 265 million pounds valued at close to $474 million. at was up from over 262 million pounds valued at more than $448 million in 2012. Getting better data on catches also could help predict the robust- ness of a fi shery. at's something distributor Togue Brawn works on in the off -season to improve manage- ment of Maine's scallop industry. e former Maine Department of Marine Resources staff er also runs Downeast Dayboat Scallops Inc. out of Bath. "We need reporting," says Brawn. "Guys aren't putting in landing reports, and we need good, timely data." For her own business, she's using social media and other technology to fi nd out when the many scallop fi sher- men she buys from will bring in their catch and how much they have, and then tries to let her customers know. She esti- mates she gets her scallops to customers within a couple days compared to 5-10 days for a large boat, which goes through more steps to get its scallops to grocers. "I want people to understand how good Maine scallops are," she says. "We have diamonds that we are sell- ing as coal." Effi ciency is everything Brawn is one example of Maine fi shermen and women being more proactive with sales, says Hugh Cowperthwaite, director of CEI's fi sheries project in Portland. "She sources scallops from Down East fi shermen and drives to Portland and New York City to restaurants. All the scallops are sold before she makes the trip," he says. "With a highly perishable prod- uct, effi ciencies mean everything," Cowperthwaite says. CEI also has created its own web- site that includes lists of seafood in season and at what time of the year, where seafood products can be bought in Maine, who processes and adds value to Maine seafood, who transports Maine seafood by truck, who in Maine uses cold storage or freezers for seafood, who sources Gulf of Maine seafood Seafood technology When 'net' means more than catching fish B y L o r i V a l i g r a T E C H N O L O G Y F O C U S Seafood supply chain summary The detailed supply chain from boat to customer leaves plenty of room for technology to aid efficiency for fishermen and seafood suppliers and traceability for customers. G R A P H I C / C O U R T E S Y M A N TA C O N S U LT I N G I N C . S O U R C E Manta Consulting Inc., 2013

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