New England's largest independent food distributor, AGAR, on Monday announced it is teaming up with the Ocean Alliance.
For every pound of Nautifish product sold, AGAR will donate a penny to the Lincoln, Mass.-based organization to support the sustainability of the marine environment. Nautifish is the Taunton, Mass., company's new line of sustainable seafood products.
"It was a goal from Day 1 to have a charitable and sustainable component to this new brand," said Karen Bressler, president and CEO of AGAR.
The Nautifish line began in January by offering frozen lobster meat from Canada. On 1 April, the Nautifish line expanded by offering an array of fresh seafood, including Prince Edward Island mussels, New Bedford scallops, clams, cod, haddock and pollock.
"We're developing a frozen scallop line and a frozen shrimp line that we anticipate will be available by June 15," said Gary Lanoue, AGAR's seafood category manager.
"We're developing some products under the Nautifish brand that are sustainable and others are in the process of becoming sustainable. We research fisheries that have been approved as sustainable by organizations like Marine Fisheries, Blue Ocean Institute and the Monterey Aquarium," added Lanoue. Currently Nautifish clams, scallops, mussels and Canadian lobster are all sustainably harvested. In addition, all Nautifish packaging is 100 percent recyclable.
"AGAR is not a private label, but we decided it was time to get our arms around who the sources are and who we're buying from and try and get a program toward sustainability. We're getting the word out that sustainability is the way to go by supporting the environment and the education of the oceans," said Lanoue.
In 2008, AGAR moved 8 million pounds of seafood through its Taunton facility to be distributed to New England restaurants and retail outlets.
