“Pioneering A Global Brand”

John Keeler, CEO & CSO of Blue Star Foods, believes that “sustainability” is the organization's organizing principle and the key to the success Blue Star has had. He’s dedicated himself to creating a company that offers premium and healthy seafood to Blue Star’s consumers while actively working towards sustainable resource management of the Blue Swimming Crab, improving the environment, and aiding in the local development artisanal fisher communities. John believes in studying metrics and quantifying results, not just in what is easily measurable, like sales, costs, and margins, but also in how his company prioritizes sustainability.

He has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to work towards GRI Certification, the highest achievable standard amongst companies certifying their business processes through sustainability reporting:

"John gets excited about deploying technology in ways that others have not yet done so in the seafood industry:"

• One example includes the innovative, cloud-based traceability app system, called Trace Crab™, which verifies sourcing their products most sustainably and responsibly while providing full traceability from the point of harvest, through a port of entry, all the way to end-consumer.

• Another example is creating the patented Eco-Fresh crab meat pouches that keep the taste of crab meat fresher for longer, are easier to put a QR code, cost less, and weigh less (thus reducing carbon emissions in their transportation).

Blue Star Foods was born from an idea to create one global brand, which would be associated with consistent premium quality, creating one product produce in multiple countries within the same specifications. The quality in segments of the crabmeat industry was not consistent, and they wanted to create a product that people could rely on, year after year. Blue Star Foods is determined to lead and inspire the traceability use of marine resources to maintain a healthy ecosystem for the development of its prime goods, which will provide a long-term stable setting for both the harvester and the product, eventually translating into economic growth and improved human livelihoods while promoting responsible and environmentally sustainable practices, with numerous benefits.

With this app, the company has positioned themselves on the leading edge of traceability initiatives for south-east Asia, with the support of strategic NGO partners such as Wilderness Market & WWF guaranteeing that the products are being sourced most sustainably and responsibly while providing full traceability from the point of harvest going through a port of entry to the consumer.

The app not only provides wide-range traceability but also, by integrating a geospatial boat tracking system that offers on the water data for a fishing period, location, and timing with systems for aggregating landings data, it also delivers insight data on harvesting behavior, reproduction, and migrating patterns preventing the catch of immature or egg-bearing specimens, guaranteeing compliance.

QR code technology delivers the information that Blue Star’s target consumer wants to know; by simply downloading the app and scanning the code, buyers know the origin of the product, including the load, fisherman, and boat details. As of right now, about 40% of the product that the company sources from Indonesia are QR coded. Sustainability is a huge part of Blue Star's business. Sustainable business practices offer efficient operations that preserve resources, which improves employee productivity and directly correlates with cost reductions.

Blue Star Foods Corp. has made several acquisitions as part of a strategy to incorporate different parts of the seafood value chain. “When we are looking for companies to partner with, the key ingredient will always be the quality and motivation of the management team. It’s key from a values standpoint that they buy in to the resource sustainability ethos, and that they believe we need to act as responsible stewards of the environment,” says John. “We are also looking for management teams that are looking to continue to operate their businesses at a high level and looking to help build the company in the U.S. capital markets and grow the equity.”IE