A company from Hull is playing a major part in the drive to help UK fishing fleets secure higher prices through better quality landings.
Nesco Weighing Limited is recognised as a leader in its field by the Sea Fish Industry Authority, (Seafish), whose board visited the company's factory to see the latest developments.
The centre of attention was the Wavecheetah, which can weigh fish on board trawlers at sea in conditions up to gale force eight. It also prints a label with details such as the fish species, size and weight plus information on when and where it was caught, and it can transmit that data by satellite to the auction halls.
"Nesco's work is pioneering," said John Tumilty, the Technical Director at Seafish's centre in Hull.
"The Wavecheetah helps traceability by logging the data such as the position and time the catch was made.
"Traceability is increasingly important because it is being demanded by the major retailers in response to consumers wanting to know where their food has come from."
The group who visited Nesco included John Tower, the Trade Development Manager, and board members Iain MacSween, the Chief Executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Organisation, Margaret Andrews, an independent member of the board based in Northern Ireland and John Goodlad, a director of Shetland Seafish and Shetland Catch Limited and a non-executive director of the North Atlantic Fisheries College.
They were given a tour of the factory in Lambert Street, Hull, and saw demonstrations of some of the weighing and grading equipment developed and built by Nesco for use in the fishing and food processing industries. But the focus was on the company's work towards improved traceability.
"We work very closely with Seafish and this was an excellent opportunity to show their board members how far we have progressed," said Gordon Norman, Nesco's Technical Sales Director, who joined Managing Director Brian Rex and Legal & Commercial Director Graham Stamp in welcoming the guests.
"During the last year the Wavecheetah has won a Hull Daily Mail Business Award for innovation and a Government Smart Award, and by working closely with Seafish we can make further improvements."
John Tumilty added: "Nesco are the only company in the UK making equipment like the Wavecheetah and the board members found it very interesting. We are trying to promote the introduction of standard box weights, improvements in fish quality and transmission of data to the market so the buyers have some idea of what is going to be landed.
"We see this as the way forward for the industry. There has got to be better traceability and better transparency. The ability to provide forward information helps people like the processors and the merchants plan their supplies."
