FISHPRINT™ - how it works!
FISHPRINT™ is a weighted calculation rating, on a scale of 0 to 4, for your entire purchase. The system is designed to assist purchasers in shifting their purchase patterns towards more environmentally-friendly seafood items.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean Institute have developed seafood guides with rating systems that evaluate numerous criteria to determine sustainability. With Monterey Bay there is no numerical score allocated to their rating, rather a color is used, so the FISHPRINT™ system has assigned values to the color ratings. With Blue Ocean Institute there is already a numerical value assigned.
Our FISHPRINT™ multiplies the weight of the product purchased by the rating for the product from Monterey Bay Aquarium and or Blue Ocean Institute to determine a point value. This product point value is adjusted for the CARBON FISHPRINT™ and the Profish Bonus (see below). The total point value is then divided by the total weight of the invoice to give you an Invoice Score rating from 0.0 to 4.0.
Our CARBON FISHPRINT™ system evaluates the Carbon Energy used to harvest and deliver to our market. This system promotes local seafood purchases, which we believe should be factored into every seafood purchasing decision - local is a smart way to help the environment and promote local employment.
Our system tracks, and allows reports to be specific to both Blue Ocean Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium rating systems separately.
Some products, not sold by weight, for the purposes of calculating the weight average, will have a conversion factor. The conversion factor will be determined by the OceanPro team and can be viewed in reporting for specific items. For example, a bag of clams - clams are sold by the each and their weight does not correlate to the weight of a fish, so Profish has determined that a conversion of a 50 piece unit is equivalent to 10 pound of fish - the conversion list.
These three factors combined are your final FISHPRINT SCORE
Example:| Product Name | Weight Purchased | Monterey Rating | Blue Ocean Institute Rating | Invoice Score | Carbon Fishprint | FISHPRINT Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahi Mahi, Imported | 40 lbs | 3 | 2.9 | 2.95? | 48 (-.5) | 2.45 |
| Swordfish, Line Caught Atlantic | 20 lbs | 4 | 2.45 | 3.23? | 18 (-.1) | 3.13 |
| Clams*, Farm Raised | 200 ea (10 ea is one lb) | 4 | 4 | 4? | 5 (0) | 4.00 |
| Sturgeon, Farm Raised | 10 lbs | 2 | 1.1 | 1.55? | 40 (-.5) | 1.05 |
| Chilean Sea Bass, Imported | 20 lbs | 1 | 1.7 | 1.35? | 24 (-.2) | 1.15 |
| Invoice Totals | 110 lbs |
2.91? |
2.64? |
2.77? |
Total Carbon Deduction .29? |
2.48 |
ASSIGNED VALUES
The Monterey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean Institute use different methodologies for their sustainability guidelines.
Monterey Bay Aquarium (NUMERICAL VALUE ADDED BY OCEANPRO)
4. Best Choices: Seafood in this category is abundant, well-managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.
3. Good Alternatives: These items are an option, but there are concerns with how they're caught or farmed-or with the health of their habitat due to other human impacts.
2. OceanPro Adjustment Factor - see below
1. Avoid: Take a pass on these items for now. They are caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment.
0. Not Rated
Final Score
2.20 - 2.59 - Light Green
1.80 - 2.19 - Yellow
1.40 - 1.79 - Orange
0.00 - 1.39 - Red
Profish Bonus - OceanPro Adjustment Factor
A Profish Bonus represents a situation where a fishery or farm stands out from their peers for their work towards sustainability. While sustainability reports from the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) or Blue Ocean Institute (BOI) may be accurate for the fishery or aquaculture industry in general, these seafood sources differ from the norm in positive ways. In some cases, the product has not yet been ranked by MBA or BOI, and our research suggests that the product is sustainable. Occasionally, an assessment by MBA or BOI may be out of date because the status of fish stocks can change quickly. If a stock rebuilds from an overfished state or overfishing ends, and we believe this change would result in an increase in the sustainability ranking from Monterey Bay or Blue Ocean, a Profish bonus may be used to denote the difference until the official report is updated. Each Profish Bonus is determined and explained by an individual report detailing why the bonus to the FISHPRINT™ score was necessary and what ratings the bonus applies to. These reports can found in the sustainability section of the product profile.
CARBON FISHPRINTS™
The OceanPro Industries CARBON FISHPRINT™ rating is from 0 to approximately 50. CARBON FISHPRINT™ reduces the final score by a factor as indicated below on the chart for each rated species.
0-10 no reduction - harvested with low energy use from a relatively local source!!!!
11-20 0.1 reduction - harvested close to shore, from a little farther away
21-30 0.2 reduction - harvested farther from shore or using less efficient methods
31-40 0.3 reduction - harvested far from shore with inefficient methods, and often uses air freight to get to market
41-above 0.5 reduction - harvested very far from shore with very inefficient methods, uses air as transportation and usually long distance for trucks as well
