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Courtesy of Seafood Source:

While seafood traceability projects have been conducted on a small scale in select areas of the U.S., one organization is aiming to provide a system that will work around the world.

Fish Trax Marketplace, an online traceability program utilizing QR codes, is being utilized by restaurants and fish markets in the Gulf of Mexico and the company has plans to expand to other areas of the U.S., Singapore, and other countries.

“It does increase the demand for traced seafood,” John Lavrakas, CEO of TerraMar Innovations, told SeafoodSource. “Consumers from all over the U.S. are telling us they love the program.”

TerraMar developed the technology for Fish Trax, which was originally used by Oregon State University, NOAA and other organizations for tracking Oregon salmon for scientific purposes. When TerraMar launched Fish Trax, David Krebs, president of distributor Ariel Seafood, in Destin, Fla., worked with TerraMar to trace sustainable Gulf seafood through the Gulf Wild program.

Each shipping container at Ariel is marked with a waterproof label containing the country of origin, the species, and trace and QR codes that lead chefs and consumers to the Fish Trax Marketplace web site. “As a first receiver, we record each shipment that arrives at the dock, each trip of the fisherman, the species, the land date, the GPS coordinates of the catch location, as well as the name of the captain and the vessel,” Krebs said.

A handful of restaurants in the Gulf are actively using Fish Trax, along with around four retailers. “Traffic goes up in the summer months and at Christmas, when people are on vacation,” Lavrakas said. In fact, the Fish Trax web site garners around 1,000 hits a month.

To provide feedback on the program to retailers and restaurants, Fish Trax has an option allowing consumers who visit the page to ask questions and leave comments. Plus, those who want to share information on the species or fishermen they are looking up can click a button to share the information via Facebook and Twitter. “That’s a great way to share the story, and is not provided with other traceability programs,” Lavrakas said.

Fish Trax is fairly cost-effective at USD 40 (EUR 29.35) per month for distributors and dealers. “For retailers and restaurants, they don’t pay anything for it. The first receiver pays for it,” Lavrakas said.

Next up, Fish Trax is exploring expansion opportunities in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast U.S. along with Singapore and Japan, where buyers have expressed interest in the program.