Followfish uses tracking system

The EU organic guidelines came into force at the beginning of 2009 and have since been supplemented by the organic aquaculture regulations, that were finally passed after tough negotiations with the various interest groups. Although these new standards have been criticised by associations like Naturland as being too slack, they do mean that companies can now emphasise that they are selling organic fish in compliance with the EU Organic Regulation. For example, the Followfish brand launched in February 2008 by the firm Fish & More assures customers that they are buying fish certified by both the EU and Naturland, with a tracking system that tells them where the fish came from. (Picture: Catching fish in the north Pacific)
“We were recently designated the Organic Brand of the Year for sustainable and consistent brand management by the journal Lebensmittelpraxis,” marketing manager Benjamin Epler at followfish is pleased to report. The judges praised their holistic approach, the product quality, the clearly thought-through marketing concept and the commercial success of the brand in 2008 and 2009. Followfish was developed in 2007, and in February 2008 the brand was presented to the trade with the launch of five products. In 2009, Fish & More for the first time achieved countrywide listing in Germany and Austria with the followfish brand. (Picture on left: Tasting stand and information about fish)

The new organic aquaculture guidelines address issues like stock densities, the composition of feed, the use of fish in feed and the medical treatment of fish. The biggest organic association, and the one followfish prefers to work with, is Naturland. All fish sold by followfish has to be chilled and filleted on the spot – either on the ship or in the vicinity of the harbour - and not sent half way round the world (for example, to China), defrosted, filleted and then re-frozen. Transporting the fish is kept to a minimum, and all journeys are by boat. (Picture on right: Tasting stand at Denn’s bio in Fulda)

The consumption of organic fish products has risen sharply in recent years and, to stimulate sales in the specialist trade even more, Dennree has launched an information and tasting campaign in collaboration with Naturland and the two fish companies Fish & More and Wechsler Feinfisch. Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen stands set up for the day in 150 organic supermarkets across Germany. With the campaign running from October 2009 to February 2010, managing each stand has been the responsibility of one of the six promoters in charge. The agency staff on the stands, wearing black tops with the Naturland logo, were given two days training on the subject of organic fish. This training included a visit to the company Wechsler Feinfish in Erftstadt near Cologne.

Organic Market.Info went on a fact-finding visit to the organic store Denn’s Bio-Markt in Fulda. Manager Karl Klaus (standing in front of a chilled cabinet in the picture) was very impressed by the campaign and its success and commented: “Today we’ve sold four times more of the advertised products than usual.” The dates for the campaign are organised by the agency Bio-Eventagentur in Berlin. Promoter Christiane Röder, the sister of the owner of the events agency Carina Röder, was there in Fulda and was delighted with the customers’ response to the tasting stand positioned at the entrance to the supermarket. She has found that about half of all customers try a sample of fish or prawns, and about a third want to know more.” As she puts it: “The people taste the quality and the firm texture of the fish and are easily convinced.”

The import and processing firm Fish & More claims to be selling, among other things, the first and only sustainable tuna, sustainable plaice (both from wild fishing) and sea trout. The company states: “The tuna is caught by hand with rod and line trailed behind the boats in the north Pacific. They use barbless hooks, so that small tuna or anything else they catch can put back in the water without coming to any great harm.” (Picture on right: Black tiger prawns and salmon samples)

Black tiger prawns (see picture) are bred in Vietnam. Dorado and sea bass are produced in marine aquaculture in Croatia. Tilapia comes from Honduras in Central America, and brown trout from the foot of the Swabian Alps. The red trout and the cod are from Ireland and Scotland. Salmon comes from the west coast of Norway. Marketing manager Benjamin Epler points out that all fish that is not from wild fishing are raised on certified organic feed only. In this way, they have put together products from all over the world that offer the customer an interesting range of ten articles.

“We are keen to ensure efficient organisation in the chain from production to the end consumer, so that we can sell fish at a reasonable price.” Their fish is currently marketed by Dennree and Bodan, and they are negotiating with other wholesalers. In the conventional trade, you find followfish packs among the frozen foods at Tegut, Edeka, Rewe, Karstadt, Globus and Wasgau in Germany and at Spar, Merkur and MPreis in Austria (picture).

All followfish products are frozen and carry a code that enables you to access information via the internet on where the fish was caught and how it was transported. An example is tuna: the tuna currently on sale was caught off the coast of Washington State in the USA in compliance with MSC guidelines and transported to a frozen food warehouse in Bocholt in Germany. With photos of the catch and the date on Fish & More’s website, you can practically make out the fish you have bought.

At Anuga 2009, the partnership between Fish & More and WWF was announced, which allows the use of their logo in return for licence payments. Moreover, Fish & More supports and respects the marine protection areas proposed by WWF and Greenpeace. For Followfish, fish that is not sourced from aquaculture must be MSC certified. MSC stands for “Marine Stewardship Council”. MSC was co-founded by WWF, and they have continued to work closely together. For some time now, the well known chef Sarah Wiener has been working for Fish & More, and she organised a cooking demonstration for the company at Anuga 2009 in Cologne.
(Picture on left: Screen shot of tuna tracking).

Fish & More GmbH was founded as a classic start-up in February 2000 by Harri Butsch and Jürg Knoll, who were still students at the time. Their vision was to sell Russian fish in Europe and thus to promote European quality standards in Russia. The result was a production facility in Russia in 2002. By 2006, Fish & More was purely an importer of Russian fresh water fish and, with annual imports of around 1,500 tons and over 160 employees, it had established itself as the market leader for zander fillet in Europe. After giving serious consideration to the issue of sustainability, the two founders of the company developed a new mission that has determined everything they have done to date: to create a 100 % sustainable fish brand and, together with NGOs, to fight for a new approach to fishing. Fish & More now has an annual turnover of about 20 million euros. The company employs 15 people at its headquarters in Friedrichshafen and 120 people abroad. (Picture: Benjamin Epler and Jürg Knoll)

Tip:
www.followfish.de
www.fish-and-more.de
www.msc.org
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/eu-policy/legislation_de#regulation

General info on fish:
www.fair.fish.ch

Further information on aquaculture can be found in the study “Organic Aquaculture 2009, Production and Markets”. For information and to order your copy click here.