Open Ocean trading

[Bassin]

Link to site --> Open Ocean Trading | Home

Hey guys I came across the company open ocean trading. Im not sure if many people have heard of it. Its been out for a year. The whole business model behind it is they set up buyers with fishermen and predetermine prices for fish and lobsters. So if im going out fishing tomorrow and i think i might get 100 lbs of fish I would go on the site and set up a contract with someone. Basically I would be pre selling my fish.. Its a cool idea, but i dont know how this would even work. Its obviously to benefit fishermen which is a great cause but no buyer is willing to pay more for the same product. they say they are trying to target under utilized species and that part makes sense.. dogfish ect.. but whos gonna eat a dog? I mean my opinion on dog fish is skewed because of how shitty they are just in general.. I dont know.. what are your thoughts?

 

[madangler]

Seems like a really neat concept to me. I am going to have to look into this more. Thanks for posting!

 

[amarshall]

not making any friends with bay scallops.

 

[monktails]

Of course they will pay for fish when they need it. I dealt with them briefly ONCE. Like most buyers they need to make a nut off everything there are better buyer out there.

 

[timfish]

They are not fish buyers. They set up contracts between boats and end users. The fish price is agreed upon before the boat leaves the dock. I have used them to sell my yellowtail flounders. At the time almost double the auction price. I also sold some of my fluke for a set price all summer $1.50 higher than the going rate.
They were paying a better price for the Nantucket bay scallops than the other buyers on the island. So why would the scallopers not like them?

 

[amarshall]

They are not fish buyers. They set up contracts between boats and end users. The fish price is agreed upon before the boat leaves the dock. I have used them to sell my yellowtail flounders. At the time almost double the auction price. I also sold some of my fluke for a set price all summer $1.50 higher than the going rate.
They were paying a better price for the Nantucket bay scallops than the other buyers on the island. So why would the scallopers not like them?

Strong first post Tim

http://vimeo.com/64084212

 

[timfish]

Strong first post

Tim's Story | Owner Operator F/V Odessa on Vimeo

Yup. Been a lurker for a while though. Regulated out of groundfishing by the catch share scheme. Hired on a year and a half ago with Open Ocean. Still go fluking and squid fishing though. Been cured of the tuna bug for about 9 years.

 

[Prdlobster]

Yup. Been a lurker for a while though. Regulated out of groundfishing by the catch share scheme. Hired on a year and a half ago with Open Ocean. Still go fluking and squid fishing though. Been cured of the tuna bug for about 9 years.

How many lbs are these contracts for? Are there trip boats landing 30,000 lbs of fish using open ocean?

 

[timfish]

We've had contracts for 50,000#s. We are working with schools,colleges,universities as well as bigger buyers. We work with the boats and try to find the right prices for their catch. the idea is to bring some durability and better profits to the industry. We work with fish, scallops and lobster. Local, sustainable, tracable, and transparent. Everyone knows who makes what... within the contract.

I did it in my own boat groundfishing. It's a different feeling going fishing knowing I would come home with a paycheck..

 

[albin35]

Been cured of the tuna bug for about 9 years.

Are there Meeings for this???

 

[MDI45]

I think there is a shot of Ronnie Raiders boat at 1:00 into the video

 

[duxbait]

So how does this work? Would I harvest whatever it is I'm fishing that day and bring it to Open Ocean? Basically the same as selling to a dealer, just that I know my price. Or does your buyer come to your port and buy the product off the boat? Also what about volume, is there much of a market for someone who primarily fishes rod and reel?

 

[CSFISH]

timfish, does open ocean have any interest in jonah crab ?

 

[jwalka51]

Do they buy crab as well???

 

[jwalka51]

They do buy jonah crabs. I just checked there website.

 

[timfish]

Yes CS we are interested in developing any market out there. Our program is applicable to any of the fisheries. We have not worked with crab yet but we will take a close look at any ideas that the fishermen might have

 

[timfish]

So how does this work? Would I harvest whatever it is I'm fishing that day and bring it to Open Ocean? Basically the same as selling to a dealer, just that I know my price. Or does your buyer come to your port and buy the product off the boat? Also what about volume, is there much of a market for someone who primarily fishes rod and reel?

We work with the fishing boats to set up contracts for their catch in foreward time. Figuring out a price that is economically sustainable for the vessels. The contracts are between the boats and the end users. We set up and manage the contract. We don't take possesion of the product. The product goes through a dealer, prossesor, and shipper that are liscensed to do so. We handle the money so the boats don't have to wait for longer terms than some end users need.

 

[greg]

Is the 50k pound a max or min? There probably arent many boats here that land 50k pounds of anything....

 

[timfish]

Is the 50k pound a max or min? There probably arent many boats here that land 50k pounds of anything....

there is no max or minimum. We set the contracts up according to how the vessels fish. Coordinating it with the markets that are available.