Trace your seafood at Thisfish.info

Do you know where the seafood on your plate comes from? Thisfish™ does. A new and easy way for consumers to trace seafood back to its origins – who caught it, when, where and how – Thisfish, an initiative of Ecotrust Canada, is an online traceability tool that sets out to make the seafood business more transparent and, well, less fishy.

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Thisfish™ is a traceability tool which allows consumers to track the seafood they are eating from boat to plate. With consumers growing increasingly concerned about where their food comes from, Ecotrust Canada has collaborated with fishermen, processors and retailers to design, develop and implement this state-of-the-art tool. Thisfish™ has been systematically tested in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada with a wide range of seafood products, and was officially launched in Canada in July 2011.

Designed to be transferable and scaleable to any fishery in any region, we also piloted Thisfish™ in 2011 with a fishery in the Netherlands. Plans are afoot to test its abilities
elsewhere abroad in 2012. Thisfish™ is not designed to be a fishery certification program or an auditor of sustainable practices. It is, however, a critical component for managing sustainable fisheries and an enabler of eco-labels by allowing for transparency of origin and fishing practices, and full accountability across the entire value chain.

How Thisfish works

Thisfish™ uses online technology that begins with placing a coded tag on each fish at the time of harvest. When fishermen land their catch, they tag individual fish or entire fish lots with a unique code. Information about the fish – who caught it, where, when and how – is linked to that unique code and uploaded to Thisfish.info. As the fish travels through the supply chain, from boat to plate, sea to supermarket, other seafood businesses upload additional information about how it was handled and processed. Ultimately, consumers, retailers and restaurateurs can use the unique code to retrieve details at Thisfish.info about the seafood they purchase. And businesses can share information with each other and regulators. This innovation not only increases community access to markets, it creates an unprecedented level of transparency and trust across the seafood supply chain by providing information to support both regulator requirements and consumer spending decisions.

The technology

Ecotrust Canada developed the web-based technology infrastructure that underpins Thisfish™, designing specifically for ease of use and cost-effectiveness, while still incorporating all the requirements needed to address current and anticipated regulatory standards. The technology has also been designed to be implemented in other industry sectors that may be interested in tracking their products from source to sale. The system was tested from a number of perspectives – by fishermen, fishing organizations, processors, restaurants and retailers – before launch, and continues to be fine-tuned to ensure it works at optimal levels.

Key components

Thisfish™ is designed to operate on three pillars:
Traceability An online system to manage and share traceability information;
Verification Data is verified by site visits and a clear paper trail;
Standards It sets and follows clear standards for coding, labelling and chain-of-custody procedures.
Practically speaking, Thisfish consists of five key program components:

Code Thisfish uses a clearly defined coding, tagging and labelling system to identify catch;
Upload Traceability information is uploaded to, and managed by, an easy-to-use online tool;
Trace Consumers (and other users) can trace their seafood on a user-friendly, interactive website and mobile site;
Analytics The online system also provides users with an analytics tool that allows them to monitor tracing activity and receive consumer feedback;
Training The Thisfish team offers users – from fishermen to retailers and all partners inbetween – comprehensive training on all aspects of the program (including tagging, uploading tag data, etc).

More than a technical tool

Aside from its practical applications, Thisfish™ is fun to use and connects seafood harvesters to consumers like never before, giving them interesting information about both the seafood on their plate and the seafood industry itself. Building on this, Thisfish marries a food traceability and data management system with new online social media tools, creating powerful marketing opportunities for seafood harvesters; processors, distributors and wholesalers; and restaurants and retailers. Giving consumers the opportunity to find out about their fish in this much engaging detail connects them with fishermen and each other, and provides a forum to share stories, information, recipes, nutritional specifics and more. Value is being added not only to the seafood they eat, but choices they make.

By making the supply chain transparent and interactive, effectively creating a network of likeminded seafood lovers, Thisfish fosters trust and authenticity in the seafood market, making it easy for consumers to judge the quality and sustainability of seafood products. That’s a win for fishermen, consumers, processors and the planet.

Who Thisfish is for

Thisfish™ is for anyone who loves seafood but is also concerned with food issues such as sustainability, origin and quality.

Consumers can use Thisfish to get accurate, trusted information about the seafood they eat, including whether a product is caught in a legal fishery or not, or if a fishery is certified by various eco-labels as sustainable or not. Credible, easy-to-access information will empower consumers to make more informed choices.
Fishermen, processors and distributors can use Thisfish to connect to consumers, and to market their seafood through their own personalized stories.
Chefs, restaurateurs and retailers can use Thisfish to ensure fish sold scores high for both quality and sustainability.

Fishing industry affiliations

Thisfish™ is committed to maximizing cost-effectiveness and benefit for all in the supply chain. Current affiliated organizations include:

West Coast Area G Trollers Association
BC Dogfish Hook and Line Association
Pacific Coast Fishermen’s Conservation Co.
Canadian Council for Professional Fish Harvesters
Maritime Fisherman’s Union
Fish, Food and Allied Workers of
Newfoundland
Halibut, lingcod, sablefish, salmon, prawn, scallop, haddock, tuna and lobster fishermen in Canada and Europe.

In addition, Thisfish has an ever expanding network of industry organizations engaging in the implementation and iterative design process.

Processors and Distributors

Thisfish™ can help seafood processors and distributors build trust in their brands,
personalize their marketing, and even create new markets for their products. Some of the first companies to participate include:
Pasco Seafoods, Richmond BC
Organic Ocean, Vancouver BC
Hub City Fisheries, Nanaimo BC
Neptune Packers Ltd, Ucluelet BC
French Creek Seafood Ltd., French
Creek BC
SM Products Ltd, Delta BC
Acadian Fisherman’s Co-op, PEI
Vancouver Island Seafood Buyers
Association, BC
Louisbourg Seafoods, NS
Albion Fisheries, Vancouver, BC

Restaurants and Retailers

Thisfish™ can help restaurants and retailers satisfy consumer hunger for details about
the seafood they buy. If you are a retailer or restaurant, you can contact a participating fisherman, processor or distributor for Thisfish products. Numerous restaurants across Canada and internationally have been supporting this initiative and have received tagged lingcod, halibut, salmon and lobster. Thisfish tagged seafood has also been received all over the world by a variety of retailers. In Canada, this includes a number of leading national retailers – look out for the orange Thisfish tags in your local supermarket.

How to get involved

More and more fishermen and fish buyers are requesting to participate in Thisfish™. To be a part of it, simply contact Thisfish – full contact details provided here. Once you have completed a simple form, the team will walk you through setting up your profile on the website. We are also committed to training and educating all partners – fishermen, processors, distributors and buyers – on how to tag fish and what important things to look out for.