Massachusetts officials are examining ways to better promote local seafood and combat perceptions that stocks are depleted.
Those initiatives were discussed during the first full meeting of the Seafood Marketing Commission, a group comprised of lawmakers, state officials, restaurant leaders, and commercial fishermen.
“Part of what we’re doing here is playing defense against perceptions that we are abusing the ocean and will catch anything,” said state Senator Bruce Tarrcq, a Gloucester Republican. “For a long time we have focused our priorities on regulation. But we haven’t promoted our fish the way we should be and telling the story of how sustainable our fish are and how important it is to the local economy.”
The goal is to brand Massachusetts seafood — the way Maine does with lobster and Alaska promotes salmon — as a healthy, sustainable food that supports the local economy. Several members of the committee suggested using technology to trace fish from the sea to the plate as a way to engage consumers in the story of how their seafood was caught.
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