Phones to tell fish stories: Restaurants, retailers join effort to inform customers about catch

Next time you eat out and order seafood, be sure to take your phone.

Next time you eat out and order seafood, be sure to take your phone.

Throughout October, restaurants and retailers throughout the state are merging technology with old-fashioned storytelling to let people know more about the fish on their plates.

It’s part of Hawaii Seafood Month, an offshoot of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s nationwide Seafood Month.

“One of the key messages we’re talking about is how much fishing and seafood are a part of Hawaii’s culture and heritage,” said Janice-Renee Yoshioka of Conservation International Hawaii, one of the organizing partners of the initiative along with the Hawaii Seafood Council.

“What we’re trying to do is really … bring that story to the forefront and give people information about fishermen and fisheries, and most importantly, who our fishermen are in the community,” Yoshioka said. “You guys are really lucky on the Big Island in the sense that a lot of your seafood is very, very local.”

At Suisan Fish Market, for example, all fish sold is locally caught.

Thirteen restaurants and retailers on the Big Island are participating in Hawaii Seafood Month.

Customers at any of these locations can scan a QR code using their smartphones to find out everything from when the fish first landed in port to what type of fishery from whence it came. The Hawaii Seafood Month website contains the same information.

“Our seafood industry has an incredible wealth of data around where our fish is harvested from, where it is moving,” Yoshioka said.

But it’s rare for that data to make it back to the consumer. Often, the only indication of a fish’s backstory is a “Use By” date at the supermarket.

“We have no way of translating into ‘How was this caught, when was it landed’” Yoshioka said. “So, what we tried to do was take out the salient points about that story and make it accessible to people.”

Conservation International searched for an app that would be accessible to even casual users, and reached out to EcoTrust Canada, which developed a seafood traceability program called ThisFish.

“They developed this app because they wanted to give artisinal small-scale fishermen a chance to brand their products,” Yoshioka said.

With slightly less than $50,000 in funding from the Oahu-based Ulupono Initiative, Conservation International was able to adapt the basic ThisFish framework to a Hawaii environment.

“One of our goals is local food production, and any way that we can help increase access to local foods — like fish — that’s a great thing for us,” said Amy Hennessey, director of communications at Ulupono.

“It’s such a neat opportunity to engage with understanding where our food comes from and why that’s important,” she said.

According to a 2012 University of Hawaii at Manoa study, only 37 percent of commercial seafood consumed in Hawaii is locally sourced.

A Hawaii Seafood Month launch event took place Saturday at participating restaurant Moon &Turtle, which sources its seafood from Suisan and Hilo Fish Company.

“It’s a great campaign,” restaurant co-owner Soni Pomaski said. “We look at farms so closely … it makes sense to look at (fish).

“It’s kind of right up our alley as far as what we do and what we want to promote.”

For more information, visit www.hawaiiseafoodmonth.com.

Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.

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All aboard

Big Island restaurants and seafood retailers participating in Hawaii Seafood Month:

• Blue Dragon (Kawaihae)

• Cafe Pesto (Hilo Bay)

• Chirashi Sushi-Don by Jiro (Kailua-Kona)

• The Fairmont Orchid (Waikoloa)

• Hilo Bay Cafe

• Hilo Fish Company

• Kona Fish Company (Kailua-Kona)

• Merriman’s (Waimea)

• Moon &Turtle (Hilo)

• Suisan Seafood Market (Hilo)

• Ulu Ocean Grill at Four Seasons Hualalai

• Umeke’s (Kailua-Kona, both locations)

• Village Burger (Waimea)