Fisheries committee  I think I heard something not long ago about the eel fishery in Maine being involved in some illegal practices. It's not a stretch of the imagination that anything with high value—sea urchin, caviar, lobster—is used as a currency here in the United States.

Fisheries committee  At the end of the day, it's a matter of the competency of the people who are conducting those traceability audits of those systems. There's a very limited number of boots on the ground that can conduct that type of reconciliation, so they have to push their resources in one direc

Fisheries committee  What I have to say about blockchain and all of these QR codes is that these are tough times. Yes, some of the larger suppliers can make those financial commitments to that technology, but, by and large, it's not going to happen overnight. There's a wide variety of RFID tags. He

Fisheries committee  I think there are some structures coming into place, whether it's the global Food Safety Initiative or the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative. Those are benchmarking tools. I think it's important for them to work with the certification bodies they're accrediting to do those au

Fisheries committee  I think the industry hasn't been challenged for a long time here in the United States— some of its larger components—but it's those medium and smaller importers that have been falling underneath the radar and they continue to grow and create more of a footprint in our fisheries h

Fisheries committee  For some of the larger companies, they're going to push. That third party certification is their insurance. However, I can't stress enough the importance of understanding that those certifications are a snapshot of what's happening at the facility and that they are only as good a

Fisheries committee  My wheelhouse is U.S. requirements, so I'm not going to say that I know much about Canadian or EU standards. I do know that there's a wealth of resources for consumers and regulators to turn to at the FDA to get that information. There are videos and labelling guides. We've been

Fisheries committee  Good morning, everybody. Thank you for inviting me to speak with you. I find it an honour to speak with the Canadian government, so I appreciate your time. My name is Scott Zimmerman. I own a company here called Safe Quality Seafood Associates. We're a consultancy. I'm basicall