NEWPORT, Ore. — August 15, 2013 — The lunch specials on this summer day at Local Ocean Seafoods come with an added bonus — QR codes — the symbols that tech savvy people know to scan with their smartphones for something extra.
In this case, that new technology connects them to an old-fashioned idea — buying right from the provider. Or almost.
It's called Fish Trax Marketplace and it's as good as meeting the fishermen who landed the catch. Scan the code and there's the captain. Click another tab and there's the vessel. Tap a third and you'll meet the dealer. There's a place for leaving comments, too.
"This is really to build a community, open up communication and foster sustainable practices," said John Lavrakas, president of Advanced Research Corp., the developer of the service. "Let us tell the story of the fishermen and let the fishermen hear back from the public."
The idea grew out of a consortium of state and federal agencies that used global positioning systems to record the location of fish. The information was then entered into a database. Lavrakas and his Newport team helped develop some of the technology that made that research possible.