Starting in May, all groundfish vessels docked at Blue Harvest’s New Bedford, MA processing plant will be offloaded under the oversight of independent, third-party dockside monitors.

The past few years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of stories in the press about overfishing and fraudulent labeling. We believe it’s time for consumers to feel good again about their seafood. Dockside offload monitoring is one of the best ways to ensure your seafood has been properly identified and labeled and is fully traceable to the source.

This means that 100% of Blue Harvest haddock, ocean perch and Atlantic pollock have been sustainably harvested and meet the highest standards for quality and freshness.

What is dockside monitoring?

Dockside monitors (DSM) are responsible for documenting the offload of catch from vessels.  DSMs make sure everything coming off the vessel has been correctly identified, weighed, graded and recorded.

They are also responsible for obtaining and recording the VTR’s (vessel tracking report) number. The VTR’s logs show where the vessel has been during its time at sea.

Independent DSM, contracted by Blue Harvest through its groundfish sector, observe and record all of the catch coming off groundfish vessels that are offloaded at the company’s New Bedford, MA processing plant.

Although not mandated, Blue Harvest Fisheries has made a commitment to 100% dockside offload monitoring. To date, Blue Harvest is the only ground processor currently offloading its groundfish vessel under dockside offload oversight.

Want to learn more about our sustainable fishing practices? Visit our Stewardship page for more information.