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Special Feature years. He was also a fisher- man in Alaska for 20 years. "One of the most impor- tant days I spent in my life was at Cooke Aquaculture," says Buckley, referring to the Canadian farmed salm- on operation's efficient and streamlined procedures for killing, bleeding and bring- ing the fish to the plant. "Just watching this whole process and comparing that to what my life had been out at sea in Alaska and seeing how different it was in New Brunswick was a huge eye-opener, and I realized that we had to get our act cute, but let's face it, it doesn't help the industry or the fisher- men. Everybody needs to pull equally and so we have to hold fishermen accountable." To do this, Buckley recom- mends the HOBO by Onset Computer Corp. Te cylin- drical device can be dropped into fish holds where it logs the temperature in increments and generates a report that fishermen give to the process- ing plants along with their catch. "You know you're being watched, you know you're be- ing measured, and if you can measure it, you can change it," says Buckley. Temperature-monitoring together in Alaska to com- pete with these guys." Buckley says current Temperature monitors Devices help measure quality and establish trust at every step of the supply chain BY MELISSA WOOD T emperature moni- toring is impor- tant along the supply chain, and it matters as soon as seafood comes out of the water. Mark Buckley, presi- dent of Digital Observer in Seattle, has been working to improve the quality of Bris- tol Bay's wild salmon for 10 38 SeaFood Business October 2012 fishery management tech- niques and handling proce- dures have improved quality, which continues to get better each year. In those efforts, temperature has played a big yet easily fixable role. "In the old days fishermen got paid more for chilled fish," remembers Buckley. "What some would do was turn on the chiller when they came in to deliver. Tat's kind of systems help those further down the supply chain, too. DeltaTRAK's TermoTrace Time Temperature Indica- tor system includes labels and an alert service to track temperatures from the ware- house to the consumer. Te Saf-T-Log by TermoWorks is a handheld thermometer that allows quick, paperless recording of temperatures that can be downloaded when the device is connected to a PC. It also has water- resistant housing so it can be used safely within a commercial kitchen and other rugged environments. Wherever seafood goes it needs to be kept cold, and that can include unusual places. ACR Systems in Sur- rey, British Columbia, has a variety of temperature monitoring systems for both portable and fixed installa- tions that can be used in ev- erything from large seafood plants to retail display cases. During the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver an ACR System was used to monitor walk-in coolers and freezers, prevent- ing food-borne illnesses so that curling, but no hurling, took place on the ice. Fisherman and direct Rugged devices measure temperatures on boats and other cold, wet places. marketer Bill Webber Jr. uses ACR's Smart Button in his efforts to deliver the highest quality Copper Riv- er salmon possible. "Tere's a lot of things I do in my operation above and beyond the industry model, and I put a lot of work and effort into it to keep this fish as pristine as possible," says Webber, a 44-year fisher- man and owner of Gulkana Seafoods Direct in Cordova, Alaska, which sells fresh Cop- per River salmon to high-end restaurants in the Lower 48. Also a boat builder, Webber engineered the 31-foot Gul- kana into a mini catcher-pro- cessor. As soon as fish are on board, he bleeds, heads and guts his catch then offloads in Cordova within two hours after the close of an opener. (Te Gulkana sank last year, and Webber's new gillnetter Paradigm Shift promises to be even more state-of-the-art.) Tough the next step is shipping, it does not mean letting go. When customers open the package, they un- cover fish, 8 pounds of gel- pack ice and a Smart Button. Less than 1 inch across, the waterproof device can be set to record temperatures at intervals from 1 to 255 min- utes. When the shipment is complete, users get a graph showing all of the recorded temperatures by plugging the device into a computer with a USB cord. "It's helped build and instill more trust. Tat's a very key element in doing business in the seafood busi- ness, gaining that trust," says Webber. "Tose devices have helped me tell my story and prove my story." Email Assistant Editor Melissa Wood at mwood@divcom.com Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com Photo courtesy of ThermoWorks