Fish Talk from Seafood Analytics about this project.

Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association (BBRSDA), Certified Quality Foods (dba Seafood Analytics) and Digital Observers are teaming up for a second year to provide digital quality monitoring for the 2021 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon season. In 2020, despite of COVID challenges that infiltrated the region, the monitoring program was successfully completed. Quality measurements from over 6,000 sockeye salmon, off 200 boats, were taken by Digital Observers on five tenders through-out Bristol Bay. The Certified Quality Foods (CQF) cloud-based business intelligence platform analyzed the data and allowed for key takeaways around trendlines, comparisons between regions, seasons, boats, tenders etc. Generic reports were shared with leading industry professionals, while a detailed report with individual boat and tender names is available to the customer. A generic example of one of the reports can be seen here (https://mkcox.clicdata.com/b/bbrsdageneric).

Having a robust amount of data from the 2020 Bristol Bay sockeye season provides a valuable baseline for comparison of salmon quality and salmon fat content harvested each year.

During the 2021 fishing season, Quality Control technicians working on 15 tenders across Bristol Bay will measure the quality of salmon at the point of delivery using the noninvasive ‘Certified Quality Reader,’ a device that uses electrical currents to measure cell degradation of the salmon. It is a fast and objective way to measure the freshness of salmon that accounts for more than just temperature.

2021 is going to be a great year. The program is tripling its measurement capacity, and expanding from paper entry to digitized apps so other metrics such as odor, visual, temperature and whether the fish has been bled can be tracked in conjunction with quality measures. For an example of how a digital datasheet is used click here (https://youtu.be/rAQC0VZ1IEg).

Data from both the CQR and digital forms will be automatically merged and available to customers upon uploading the data during or after the 2021 fishing season. Data is stored electronically and historic data can be viewed by simply changing the date on the dashboard.

This project will help determine better handling practices to continue to improve salmon quality, supporting the impressive and ongoing improvement of salmon quality in Bristol Bay.

Seafood processing companies interested in participating in this monitoring program are encouraged to contact us.

CONTACT:

Keith Cox, Cofounder | Seafood Analytics | 907.957.4606 | mkcox@seafoodanalytics.com

Chuck Anderson, VP of Sales and Marketing | Seafood Analytics | 617-429-5157 | canderson@seafoodanalytics.com

Frances Bursch, Program Specialist | BBRSDA | 907.677.2371 | frances@bbrsda.com