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As traceability mandates loom, harvesters discuss how to tell buyers where their shellfish comes from.

March 30, 2009

— By BILL TROTTER

Bangor Daily News

SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick — This year's annual meeting between lobstermen from New England and Atlantic Canada was billed as an opportunity for people to discuss what external factors the lobster industry might face in the near future.

Water quality, offshore drilling, wind farms and stock enhancement efforts all were mentioned as possible agenda items, but what took precedence at the meeting held here Friday and Saturday were the views of and demands upon the industry by the public and outside groups.

One such topic is traceability, by which consumers and regulators can keep track of the chain of custody of their food from the point it is harvested until it arrives on their plates.

The issue was considered by about 50 people at this year's Canadian/United States Lobstermen's Town Meeting, which is organized by the University of Maine Lobster Institute and was held at the Saint John Trade and Convention Centre.

Traceability is an issue, according to people at the conference, because beginning next year, the European Union will require that all imported seafood be traceable to its source.

The reason for this, they said, is to help prevent illegal harvests of marine species and enable regulators and consumers to react more quickly if tainted food appears on the market.

"A lot of fishermen don't know what traceability is," said Cathy Billings, the Orono-based Lobster Institute's associate director. "It's going to be a safety issue and a human health issue."

The concept has gained in popularity in recent years after outbreaks of mad cow disease made regulators and consumers more concerned about knowing how to track beef to its original source, Billings said.

Traceability may require more paperwork for people in the lobster industry, but it could help give it a boost, too, people at the conference agreed.

It could prove to be a way for the industry to promote its product as sustainable and healthy, they said, without having to get such confirmation or certification from outside groups.

Informing consumers that their lobster came from a fisherman in New England or Atlantic Canada could also be a chance for consumers to find out how the lobster was caught and about the relatively robust health of the lobster fishery.

Swan's Island fisherman Jason Joyce said he has dabbled voluntarily in traceability. He said he puts bands on the claws of lobsters he catches that have his Web site address printed on them, so consumers can go online and find out more about where their lobster came from.

This kind of traceability can enhance lobster as a premium product, he said, and perhaps help add a few dollars to what consumers are willing to pay. For this reason, he is careful to make sure that what he sends out is of good quality.

"We have no problem sending to market what we put in that crate," Joyce said.

But issues with traceability still need to be resolved, some people said. What if a fisherman sells high-quality, whole lobster to a dealer but it ends up getting damaged in transit? Will the fisherman be unfairly blamed?

And what about the processed market, which mainly comes out of Canada?

Lobster that may not be suitable for a restaurant dinner plate often gets processed into pieces and canned, giving it a longer shelf life. Lobster meat that ends up canned could come from multiple harvesters.

Is it worth keeping track of the origins of every lobster that ends up in a tin, people at the conference wondered, and if it is, how do you keep track of that information so you can match it up with the final product?

"If we're talking processed lobster, it's a bigger problem because we import it and we sort it out," said Andre Martin of the New Brunswick-based Maritime Fishermen's Union.

Conference attendees agreed they should look into how U.S. and Canadian...