Fishtrax allows you to scan or type in a QR code for your seafood and spits back information about who, where, and how the fish was caught.
If any of you picked up a copy of the Oregonian this weekend you may have seen an interesting article on linking consumers (that’s you) to the people who fish their seafood (that’s the local fisherman catching crabs in Manzanita). The app is called FishTrax Marketplace and is intended to get consumers invested and interested in where their seafood comes from and helps to promote sustainable seafood practices.
At the swipe of the QR code you can find out where the fish you’re eating is from, who caught it, how it was caught, and leave comments for the fisherman (I’ve typed in a code I found for red snapper in the photo posted above and given you a snap shot of what information comes up for the fish). It’s meant to foster a community for sustainable seafood. The trend is called traceability and seeks to create relationships between consumers and farmers/fisheries/ranchers, mimicking the once-close ties that were broken long ago by industrialized food manufacturing. The concept is just starting up in Oregon, New Seasons has started posting QR codes in certain locations, but it seems like an interesting endeavor.
Do you think you would use an app like this? Would you care about seeing where your seafood comes from and who caught it?
-Meg