W James weighs up grant benefits

Newlyn based fish merchants, W James and Sons, have been awarded an Objective One fisheries grant of £13,000 to purchase new weighing and labelling equipment.

The firm, which has been trading for over 80 years, buys and sells a wide range of fish species from Newlyn. However, as markets are demanding more traceability and clearer labelling of all food products, the company is investing in this new technology to meet customer demands.

The specialist equipment has a computerised weighing system, which can trace fish back to the boat it was bought from, check how much fish was purchased and sold on a particular day and has more accuracy than the current manual weighing and book entering system.

Alison Elvey, Objective One Fisheries Programme Manager, stated: "Customers are demanding more and more to know exactly where their fish has come from. W James and Sons are addressing these needs by investing in new technology.”

Partners Richard and Stephen James of W James and Sons stated: "This new weigh labelling system will allow us to comply with individual customer and country food labelling requirements. It will also provide our customers with full traceability of our products from the catchers to the producers.”

Further information contact:
Alison Elvey, Objective One Fisheries Programme Manager
Trevint House, Strangways Villas, Truro, TR1 2PA
Tel: 01872 270333
Fax: 01872 242470