Walking around the show floor, I encountered two booths that were promoting websites that could help buyers and associates stay on top of seafood product and species information.
The nonprofit FishChoice.com, a b2b website that partners with a slew of different organizations including the Blue Ocean Institute, FishWise, Marine Stewardship Council, Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program, New England Aquarium, and SeaChoice.
With a mission to connect buyers and sellers of sustainable seafood, FishChoice lets users access a database of different products, and gives key information about the product, including delivery options, seasonal availability, as well as its “seafood scores” from all the varying organizations, and a link to contact the supplier directly.
Right now it’s free, but a FishChoice.com representative told me that they might eventually charge.
I also got a chance to talk to folks from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about their relaunched website www.fishwatch.gov. The site seems to be intended to be consumer facing, but could be a useful tool for training in-store associates. The site profiles 85 different kinds of seafood, with an overview of the species, the population, fishing rate, habitat impacts, and bycatch. There’s also general information about wild-caught and farmed seafood, and tips for buying and eating seafood.