Coleman’s hooked on new traceability program

When Matthew Coleman, Coleman’s seafood buyer, was  first introduced to the ThisFish.info traceability program a few years ago at the Boston Seafood Show, he was intrigued.

He really was hooked on the program after learning that the Food and Fisheries Allied Workers Union (FFAW) were offering the program to Newfoundland fishers, Coleman very quickly agreed to partner with them and promote the program through the 12 Coleman locations.

On May 9, Colemans at the Gardens in Corner Brook, N.L., launched the program with Dwan Street, FFAW traceability coordinator along with Newfoundland’s Fisheries Minister Vaughn Granter.

Throughout the busy afternoon customers turned out to ask question about the program,  receive pamphlets and biographies of the various fishers and entered for a chance to win  free lobsters.

The seafood case was extremely busy selling fresh and cooked Newfoundland lobsters for Mother’s Day, said Judy Bennett,  public relations lead at Colemans.

Currently more than 300 west coast Newfoundland fishers are participating with 2 species; lobsters and halibut.

When customers purchase a tagged product they can conveniently scan the small bright orange tag with their smart phone or blackberry device which automatically brings them to this website; www.thisfish.info  where they enter the number on the tag.

Amazingly, a full detailed profile of the fisher will appear on their screen with details on which fisher caught the lobster or halibut and where it was caught.  One of the interesting stories included a chef at a restaurant in Switzerland who emailed a fisher to tell him that his guests thoroughly enjoyed eating fresh delicious Newfoundland lobster.

Bennett outlines some of the benefits of a seafood traceability program:

• It answers customer questions on where does the product come from?
• Customers of all ages can very easily scan the tag using any QR code app.
• Customers without phones can visit the website; thisfish.info and manually enter the number on the tag.
• Fishers can receive feedback on their product from all over the world when customers send messages using the website.
• It’s so easy!

Bennett added that the media coverage was fantastic with Steele Communications doing a live remote on Sat May 9th, an article in the local Western Star Newspaper on Monday May 11.  A CBC radio interview on the Fisheries Broadcast with Jeremy Baker Friday night May 8^th  and a CBC Corner Brook morning show radio interview with Bernice Hillier on May 12.