Enhacing traceability, and health standards in the fish processing chain by enabling vessels to capture and input real time data

The meat industry has long had standards for all steps in the food processing chain, providing traceability, and health standards for the food we eat. Standards also protect market access for fishermen and allow differentiation of their products through quality, responsible and sustainable fishing practices. Currently, fishermen are either using paper-based manuals, to satisfy current demands of the various national and international standards, or are not conforming to any standard whatsoever. The outcomes of this project facilitate the application of standards to the fishing industry. The objectives of the project were to provide opportunities to capture and input real time data while vessels are fishing and to introduce more vessels to these standards (e.g. HACCP, BIM, etc.) through the service. The objectives of implementing the key user requirements were to reduce paperwork, reduce costs, and make the system accessible on any PC, tablet or mobile device in a simple, user friendly system. The tasks were designed to make standards more accessible to a wide variety of commercial fishermen working in a challenging environment. Processor requirements regarding supplier controls, and information on vessels landing to them, were also addressed. The MarIA project included all key categories of vessels operating in Irish and European waters, as well the involvement of the fish processing, regulatory and fisheries development sectors. The system produced by the MarIA project allows commercial fishermen to demonstrate these practices in real time and underpin the quality attributes of seafood they land. This protects and enhances the market position of these products in relation to other protein classes, ensuring greater transparency and traceability to the consumer, whilst reducing paperwork and delays for the fishermen and producers.