MIAMI — Consumers and retailers who want to choose sustainable seafood can now see the direct impact of their purchasing decisions on ocean resources. Today, Verlasso® harmoniously raised fish introduced “Save the Fish,” an education program and interactive website designed to show seafood buyers just how much wild-caught feeder fish they’re saving when they purchase Verlasso® salmon.
“In addition to taste and texture, sustainability is a major deciding factor when it comes to which salmon a conscientious consumer chooses to take home,” said Scott Nichols, director at Verlasso®. “Each time someone purchases Verlasso® salmon, he or she directly participates in saving wild-caught feeder fish, an ocean resource we need to protect. For the first time, the Save the Fish interactive website allows seafood lovers to quantify the positive impact their Verlasso® purchase has on saving those fish and the future of our oceans.”
Verlasso® salmon has been dedicated to reducing dependency on wild-caught feeder fish and protecting ocean resources since its inception in 2011, resulting in 6 million pounds of wild-caught feeder fish saved to date. One way Verlasso® demonstrates this commitment is through its feeding method that requires fewer wild-caught feeder fish than traditionally farmed salmon. Save the Fish was created to help retailers and consumers better understand the impact their seafood purchasing decisions have on our oceans.
Elements of the Save the Fish campaign include:
Mobile-friendly site: Each element of the campaign directs consumers to Save the Fish to learn about the impact of their Verlasso® purchase on the environment. The site informs users what makes Verlasso® different from other farmed salmon.
Impact Calculator: This innovative tool found on the last page of the website allows users to calculate how many pounds of wild-caught feeder fish they’ve saved based on how many pounds of Verlasso® salmon they’ve purchased. For example, 2 pounds of Verlasso® purchased saves, on average, 8 pounds of wild-caught feeder fish. Through the calculator’s social sharing function, shoppers also can tell their Facebook friends and Twitter followers how many fish they saved simply by making an informed seafood counter purchase.
Point-of-sale/in-store materials: Visitors to retail seafood counters will learn how “One Fish Can Make a Difference” through materials that also drive shoppers to Save the Fish to learn more:
Gill tags attached to every Verlasso® salmon direct shoppers to the new site.
Fish picks inside the seafood case make it clear which fish is sustainable Verlasso®.
Fish fact posters and counter-top easels offer a fish-case educational experience about Verlasso®.
Custom Verlasso® Save the Fish packaging stickers at select retailers.
SeaShare partnership: Once retailers and consumers help Verlasso® save 7 million pounds of wild-caught fish, Verlasso® will make a donation to SeaShare, the only non-profit organization that focuses on seafood and the seafood industry as a source of nutrition for hunger-relief. Since 1994, SeaShare has provided more than 200 million meals to Feeding America’s food bank network.
“We are proud to have Verlasso® as a partner in our hunger-relief efforts,” said Jim Harmon, executive director of SeaShare. “SeaShare believes in the power of seafood to enrich lives. Working together with Verlasso® through Save the Fish, we can put more seafood on more tables.”
Verlasso® is the only ocean-raised farmed salmon with a “Good Alternative” buy rating from the Monterey Bay Aquarium® (MBA) Seafood Watch® program. In addition to reducing dependency on wild-caught fish, the low pen density at which Verlasso® raises salmon, respect for the oceans’ resources through long fallowing periods and distance at which Verlasso® raises fish from native salmon populations helped the company earn the coveted rating.
Learn more at www.verlasso.com.
About Verlasso®
Verlasso®, the world’s first provider of harmoniously raised fish, is the first and only ocean-raised farmed Atlantic salmon to receive the yellow “Good Alternative” buy rating from the Monterey Bay Aquarium® Seafood Watch® program. Committed to continuous improvement in its aquaculture practices, Verlasso® works in concert with some of the world’s leading thinkers to sustain people, fish and the planet. Verlasso® was recognized by Seafood International magazine as a “Best New Food of 2011”, and as a “Top Food Trend of 2012” by Specialty Food magazine. Verlasso® salmon also is available from coast to coast via retailers and restaurants and direct-to-retail partnerships. If you would like more information about Verlasso®, contact us at info@verlasso.com, join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @VerlassoSalmon, or sign up for the Verlasso® e-newsletter.
Verlasso® is a brand and trademark of AquaChile. AquaChile and DuPont formed a collaboration that will blend the collective innovation and aquaculture expertise of the companies to identify how to raise fish sustainably to provide nutritious protein for a growing population.
Source: Verlasso