AI Technology Revolutionises Brixham Fishmarket Sales
Brixham, UK – An innovative artificial intelligence (AI) system is poised to transform the way seafood transactions are conducted, bringing unprecedented transparency and objectivity to an industry traditionally reliant on subjective assessments. Created by UK-based tech company bluecatchAI, CatchReport is an advanced system designed to revolutionise the wholesale buying and selling of seafood by allowing buyers to evaluate fish quality remotely.
Introduced to the industry following trials at Brixham fishmarket in 2022, CatchReport utilises cameras to capture detailed visuals of seafood as it is offloaded and organised. These images are then made available to registered buyers through a secure platform, enabling them to scrutinise the quality of the catch from virtually any location, be it their home or office.
Tom Goddard, Chief Commercial Officer and co-founder of bluecatchAI, shared insights regarding the system's development and its integration with the existing market infrastructure. Since 2021, the company has explored potential roles for AI across the seafood supply chain. "We identified a unique opportunity within the seafood industry, which largely functions on purchases made 'blind' prior to sale," Goddard explained. He noted the logistical constraints buyers often face, describing the arduous task of sifting through numerous ice-laden boxes at unsociable hours.
Goddard recounted his initial partnership with Brixham fishmarket, acknowledging the shared goal of enhancing customer value. The collaboration commenced with a prototype involving a camera positioned over a scale for the prized turbot species, which commands prices upwards of £30 per kilogram. This visual data augmented the market's existing grading systems and rapidly expanded to include almost every species landed at the market.
Today, CatchReports are disseminated to buyers from 4am each day, well ahead of daily auctions. Furthermore, market managers benefit from an enhanced dashboard offering visual archives and detailed analytics to monitor and manage seafood stocks.
The advantages presented by the system extend beyond buyers and sellers, also benefiting fishermen. According to Goddard, the platform offers greater transparency of the catch quality, which can inform and potentially improve fishing methods and handling practices. This in turn helps to secure higher market prices for their hard-earned catches.
In addition to Brixham, bluecatchAI is expanding its collaboration across various markets, exchanges, and processors both in Europe and the United States. Despite differing applications and use cases, the core technology of machine vision remains central to these partnerships.
Feedback on CatchReport has been exceedingly positive, noted Goddard, with stakeholders across the Atlantic praising its ability to bring more rationality and less risk to pricing. By reducing the reliance on guesswork, the system facilitates more informed and objective trading decisions.
With the continued development and expansion of CatchReport, bluecatchAI is set to significantly influence the modernisation of seafood sales operations. This AI innovation marks a critical step towards the digital transformation of a traditional industry, promising to overhaul longstanding purchasing practices for a more streamlined and efficient future.
Source: Noah Wire Services