Called Dock to Dish, it stems from a collection of community-based seafood sourcing programmes in the US, Canada and Costa Rica and is using the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to in a bid to realise its ambitions.
"We are on a mission to fix the broken seafood supply system with our unique cooperative programs and the latest advances in technology," the organisation’s campaign page reads. "Today we invite you to join us on our journey to launch Dock to Dish 2.0 which will make precision traceability a reality, and catapult local seafood sourcing into the digital age."
The NY-based organisation points out that, currently, less than 1% of all seafood can be accurately tracked back to a fisherman, while almost 50% of the seafood samples recently tested in US restaurants were found to be fraudulent.
LA-based Chef Michael Cimarusti, who adopted the Dock to Dish pilot program in 2015, told Munchies: "This is the kind of thing—this tracking technology and traceability technology—will really help combat seafood fraud.”
"I think it's the kind of thing that if it works, and we can prove that it can be done without adding a tremendous amount of cost to seafood, or without creating a bunch of upheaval within the system, it'll probably be something that can push its way up the supply chain."
The concept is relatively straightforward – with fish landings being dropped in a tote bag fixed with a barcode, allowing every step of their journey, from quay to plate, to be traced.
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