GMRI's Seal of Approval: Exploiting or Helping?

By Carol McCracken (Post # 723)

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) announced yesterday that it has launched a new sustainable seafood eco-label to identify responsibly harvested seafood from the Gulf of Maine region.  GMRI is located on Commercial Street, Portland and is a non-profit organization.

The seal (above) will initiallly appear on cod, haddock, lobster and northern shrimp products from the Gulf of Maine region at Hannaford and other retail stores. 

Consumers may also see the seal displayed at local restaurants and fish merkets in Maine throughout New England in the coming months.

“The seal lets consumers know that an objective science institution has verified responsible harvest and traced the product to the Gulf of Maine,” said Jen Levin, GMRI’s sustainable seafood program manager.  “It unifies the region around a shared identity and support an economically and ecologically thriving seafood industry.”

GMRI is in the process of assessing additional fisheries, with the goal of adding more seafood products to the program later this year.

North Atlantic, Inc., Bristol Seafood, Slade Gorton, Cozy Harbor Seafood and New Meadows Lobster will be among the first companies to use the seal.

editor’s note:  MHN.com is a real skeptic on this one!  Having met with Jen, an MBA holder,  sometime ago when the plans for this program were preliminary and the seal had not yet been designed, MHN.com decided not to do an article on the plan.  MHN.com sees this seal as purely a fund raiser for GMRI  on the backs of sea food lovers in the area.  Why haven’t any restaurants in the area signed up for this program?!

“Sustainable Food News” is a  daily published,  on-line newslettter directed to the national organic food industry.  For more information, please call Dan McGovern, Hill resident, at (207) 749-5249.