For commercial fishermen, the story behind their harvest often begins long before the fish reaches the dock. From the vessel and crew to the fishing grounds, harvest methods, and handling practices, each trip generates information that can help distinguish one boat's product from another.

But once that seafood enters the supply chain, much of that individual identity can be lost.

Joe Zariello, founder of CertiHarvest, believes that information has value, and he's building a platform designed to help fishermen and seafood dealers capture it.

"A lot of folks are frustrated that they take such good quality care on the boat," Zariello told National Fisherman. "And then once it gets to the tender or the truck, it gets joined in with everybody else's."

CertiHarvest aims to address that disconnect by creating a digital record that follows seafood through the supply chain, allowing buyers and consumers to learn more about the fishermen and vessels behind their purchases.

For Zariello, the opportunity goes beyond traceability. He believes the information fishermen already generate could eventually become another source of revenue for the industry.

Turning harvest information into value

Commercial fishermen have long collected information about their harvest, but much of that information has traditionally been used for reporting, management, or transactions rather than marketing individual products. Zariello sees an opportunity to change that.

"What I'm unlocking for them is a product that has been given away for free for a number of years," he said. "This information is worth something, especially when it's coupled with a great product."

His concept is to create a direct connection between the fishing vessel and the eventual seafood buyer or consumer, giving fishermen an opportunity to communicate what makes their product different.

That could include the vessel responsible for the harvest, the people behind it, and the care taken to bring the seafood to market.

Zariello compares the concept to Carfax, the vehicle history reporting service that gives prospective buyers additional information before making a purchase. Just as a vehicle's history can influence a buyer's decision, he believes information about seafood could help consumers distinguish between products that might otherwise appear identical at the seafood counter.

"I think that we give fishermen a channel or an artery to brag," he said. "It's a direct line of communication to the people that care for them to say, ‘Hey, we're part of this culture. We've put this sort of respect into the product, and we wanted you to know about it.’"

The long-term goal is a seafood marketplace where buyers can consider more than species, grade, and price when making purchasing decisions. Zariello envisions a shift toward lower-volume, higher-quality seafood sales, with consumers developing a greater connection to the people harvesting their food.

"Due to the remote nature of fishing, there's a disconnect," he said. "But emerging technology allows us to get to know those folks just a little more."

Keeping a boat's identity attached to the harvest

One of the challenges facing seafood traceability is what happens when fish from several vessels are combined during transportation or processing.

For smaller operations selling directly from the dock, identifying the source of seafood can be relatively straightforward. But for fisheries that rely on tenders, trucks, and larger distribution networks, individual harvests may be mixed before reaching the next buyer.

Zariello said CertiHarvest is designed to preserve information about the vessels contributing to those combined loads, even when individual fish cannot be traced to a single boat.

"What we can do is we can look at any fish on a tender boat and the boats that comprised the catch or the harvest that went into that tender," he explained.

Rather than identifying one specific vessel when harvests have been mixed, the system would identify the group of boats that contributed seafood to the load.

"We're able to say, yes, with 100 percent certainty this fish came from one of these boats on this day," Zariello said.

He acknowledged that the process may be easier in some fisheries than others. East Coast infrastructure, he said, can make certain forms of vessel-level tracking more straightforward, while larger tender operations in Western fisheries require a broader approach.

The company uses a centralized information system to collect and distribute harvest details among supply chain participants. Zariello describes the process as a river of information, with individual fishing vessels acting as smaller streams feeding into a larger system.

Under the company's approach, information is owned by the custody holder of the seafood product at that time, allowing those handling the product to use the information as it moves through the supply chain.

For seafood dealers, Zariello believes the platform could offer a way to bring the story of the waterfront directly to customers without changing the physical path seafood takes to market.

He describes that opportunity as becoming "virtually vertically integrated," connecting the people harvesting seafood with those ultimately purchasing it.

Will consumers pay more?

While the potential value of traceability is central to CertiHarvest's business model, a significant question remains: Who is willing to pay for it?

Fishermen already face rising operating costs, unpredictable markets, and pressure to maintain profitability. Adding another step to their daily operations may be a difficult sell without a clear financial return.

Zariello acknowledged that CertiHarvest is asking fishermen to do something additional by entering harvest information into a new system.

In return, he hopes to create opportunities for fishermen to benefit financially from information that has historically accompanied their harvest without generating separate revenue.

"What I'm offering is another stream of income for them to supplement or complement what they already have," he said.

But whether seafood buyers will consistently pay more for that information remains uncertain.

Asked what happens when fishermen provide detailed harvest records but buyers are unwilling to pay a premium, Zariello said the company is entering relatively untested territory.

"We're going to have to wait and see how the market responds to this," he said.

That uncertainty is particularly important as fishermen and seafood businesses weigh whether the potential benefits justify participating in another digital system.

Although Zariello believes consumers increasingly want to understand where their seafood comes from, the company has not yet established whether that interest will translate into higher prices paid to fishermen.

Getting fishermen and dealers on the same page

Beyond the technology itself, Zariello said one of the biggest challenges has been convincing different parts of the seafood supply chain to participate together.

His conversations with fishermen and dealers have revealed an interesting disconnect.

Dealers often express enthusiasm for greater transparency but question whether fishermen will be willing to participate. Fishermen, meanwhile, frequently respond positively to the concept but question whether dealers will support it.

"When I go talking to dealers, they say to me, we love it. We're all about it. We're all about transparency," Zariello said. "But then they say to me, good luck getting the fishermen on board."

He encounters the opposite response when approaching fishermen.

"They say, I love it. I'm down. I'll use it for free for a period of time if you want me to," he said. "But good luck getting the dealer on board."

Restaurants and chefs have also expressed interest, according to Zariello, although many are reluctant to disrupt longstanding relationships with seafood buyers.

For restaurant operators, sourcing decisions are often handled through established dealers rather than directly with fishing vessels.

Zariello said the challenge is finding a way for those relationships to remain intact while making more detailed harvest information available throughout the supply chain.

A new opportunity for working waterfronts

CertiHarvest is already operating in several U.S. fisheries, including blue catfish in Virginia and Louisiana, cod in New England, oysters in Alabama, and squid in California and Rhode Island, according to Zariello.

As the company continues to expand, he is connecting with fishermen and seafood businesses interested in using the platform.

He believes participating fishermen could benefit from having a recognizable CertiHarvest identifier attached to their seafood, giving buyers additional information about where the product came from and who harvested it. Zariello described the digital record as a "living commercial" that could continue telling the product's story long after it leaves the dock.

The company is also seeking additional fishermen willing to participate in demonstrations and begin submitting harvest information through its app. Those interested in learning more can visit www.certiharvest.com or contact Zariello at [email protected].

For Zariello, the goal is to give commercial fishermen greater visibility in a seafood supply chain where harvesters are often several steps removed from the final customer. He sees an opportunity for fishermen to better communicate the quality of their harvest and the work behind it.

Whether that translates into stronger market opportunities will depend on participation from fishermen, seafood businesses, and buyers willing to recognize the value of that information.

Zariello sums up the company's vision in a simple phrase: "Your best harvest, proven, paid like the best."

For now, CertiHarvest is betting that the stories and information behind America's commercial fishing fleets represent an untapped opportunity. Whether that opportunity ultimately translates into additional income for fishermen will depend on how the seafood market responds.