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What are the leading companies increasing transparency in the aquaculture supply chain? Which ones are the successful?
Hello there! Thank you for your question on the leading companies increasing transparency in the aquaculture supply chain. The short answer is that I have identified the leading companies as Pelagic, Cargill, and Norpac. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
I began by familiarizing myself with the aquaculture supply chain and the industry surrounding it. Next, I conducted a comprehensive search through academic databases, corporate websites, and industry reports for companies with the specifications described. I looked into each company extensively to determine their tools and approach to data collection, predominantly found through scouring their respective websites. Articles by HuffingtonPost and AGFunderNews were the most useful sources in determining which companies are leading the increasing transparency in the aquaculture supply chain.
FINDINGS
In order to determine which companies to select I chose the most prominent companies throughout my research. In explanation, the companies were most frequently mentioned in different sources in relation to listings of leaders in the industry and generic searches. The companies determined to be industry leaders are Pelagic, Cargill, and Norpac.
Below I will break down my findings into sub-sections for your ease of reading. I will detail each identified company individually, as well as pointing out any additional notable insights I found in my search.
PELAGIC
Based in California, this company describes themselves as innovators providing data solutions for fisheries across the globe. They offer a piece of advanced hardware built for the artisanal fleet. They detail to seen an issue with the Traditional Vessel Tracking Systems and endeavored to solve it; traditional VTS are typically a poor fit for 95% of the world's fisheries that are artisanal vessels. Pelagic's hardware is an Ultra-Light VTS specifically designed for smaller-scale fisheries. It features the ability to track fleets, monitor activity, and analyze data. The device is compact and solar powered, a large improvement on the traditional VTS boasting a complex infrastructure of a satellite-based system.
Pelagic's success in the industry is commented: "The top-scoring companies included California-based Pelagic Data Systems, which provides remote data capture for boats at sea through a solar-powered plastic box that gathers information on the catch and uploads it to databases via cell networks". In another article, Pelagic is mentioned against as an emerging start-up looking to rectify the industries failings.
CARGILL
This company is a large animal nutrition business with over 20,000 employees and 275 locations in 40 countries. The innovation and research-based company has recently delved into the aquaculture supply chain in 2016.
Their creation iQuatic is described to have revolutionized how shrimp are fed. Currently available in Central and South America, the technology is based on automated feeding dispensers through acoustics. Microphones detect when the shrimp are eating, in turn enabling the system to deliver precise amounts of food when the shrimp are hungry. Not only this, but the feed dispenser is also specifically designed for nutritional optimization. The shrimp feed is formulated with ingredients proven to help ensure that the shrimp intake all of the nutrients available in a pellet. The technology is described to have given shrimp farmers everything they need to ensure productivity gains.
The exact functionality of the tool is described here: "Automated feeders use the acoustic technology to understand the natural eating patterns of shrimp, resulting in improved efficiency. Because the shrimp make better use of the nutrients delivered, they grow faster and produce less waste. This results in improved feed conversion ratio and better water quality allowing for a more environmentally sustainable operation with healthier, larger shrimp."
NORPAC
Based in Seattle and Honolulu, Norpac has been ahead of the game having created a trace-ability system in 2004 with goals to increase the transparency of the industry. The technology replaces the need for paper-based recording systems, and ultimately refining the system on a whole. Finding records is far faster and simpler, as well as the tracking itself. They track seafood from where it was fished right up until the final product (or multiple different products) it's sold as.
The tracking system works through assigning each fish a unique serial number. This serial is loaded up with extensive information such as the vessel, date, capture location, catch method, species, and weight. Furthermore, the packaging used is also noted to be tracked. When the fish are received they are scanned, the temperature is recorded and is tagged with a physical barcode. This point in production is where information was initially registered in the previous system.
Thomas Kraft, the founder of Norpac portrays that the industry is not just about transparency. Knowing where food comes from and in turn creating a traceable seafood industry is just as important to the industries growth. His full thoughts on the matter can be seen here: “There is much more of a business benefit than a traceability benefit. It’s a very informative data stream for a variety of stakeholders in the supply chain,” he said. “You can capture the length of fish, for example, and decide only to purchase fish of a certain length and, therefore, maturity to help ensure the sustainability of the fish source. This can impact the whole supply chain. You can also track different yields and different grades of fish.”
Norpac is noted to hold themselves accountable for their fishery practices within territorial water governed by Fishery Management Plans. This insight further depicts their commitment to the transparency of the industry. The only restriction being the political environment surrounding most fishery locations.
CONCLUSION
To summarize, I have individually analyzed the 3 companies identified as industry leaders within the specific parameters detailed. I have endeavored to provide information on the tools the companies are using and data gathering methods wherever possible.
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