In recent years there have been instances where seafood marketed as local or as a specific species has turned out to be neither. Red’s Best, a Boston-based seafood distributor has an astute understanding of local seafood marketing and is emerging as a leader in tackling seafood mislabeling and building markets for lesser-known seafood species. Committed to transparency in the supply chain, Red’s Best has developed seafood tracking and logistics technology that gives consumers and fishermen important information via a sticker with a scan-able code telling the story of their seafood. Customers can be assured that they’re getting what they ordered and, in learning about the fisherman, they can understand how their purchase supports the viability of the local fishing industry. The technology benefits fishermen as well, and, on the water, it gives them free information on fishing quotas, annual catch limitations, and delivers their required catch reports to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Through its sale of locally-abundant, but lesser-known species, Red’s Best is nudging customers to take home fish they’ve never heard of. And Red’s Best’s distribution to farmers markets and hospitals, as well as through national supply chains, is expanding markets for traceable, Massachusetts-caught seafood.
