Who is the fisherman on our packaging?
When you hold a can or package from Fish Tales, you'll surely notice: there's always a fisherman on our packaging. These are real fishermen. Not a model, not an AI-generated face, but someone who actually works at sea and fishes for the species you now hold. So... did he or she catch your fish? Maybe – but not always. Because the fisherman on our can is our ambassador: he might have caught your fish, but he primarily symbolizes all colleagues who do the same. In this blog, we explain why we find this so important.
A Face to Your Fish
The world of fish is often anonymous. You buy a can, but who caught the fish and how exactly it was done usually remains hidden. At Fish Tales, we do things differently. We know the origin of our fish all the way back to the fishery, and that's unique. We choose to show this traceability with a fisherman from that fishery. Not to say that that specific person literally caught your fish, but because we want you to see, taste, smell, and feel with your own eyes how the fishery works. How wonderful it is when the fisherman himself can tell that story. Personally and with love for their craft.
The fisherman thus symbolizes the entire fleet or community of fishermen who work in the same way.
Glein and the fleet on one of their ships
Glein and the Bitung Fleet
Take, for example, Glein from Bitung, Indonesia. He catches tuna with a pole and line – a traditional method where each fish is sustainably caught one by one. Glein is on our packaging as an ambassador for no fewer than five vessels with a total of a hundred fishermen who all work in the same way. So it's quite possible that the tuna in your can was caught by him, but just as well by one of his colleagues.
What matters to us is that you see who is behind your fish. Not an anonymous chain, but real people who understand their craft and keep their community going.
Glein and our impact manager Irene
Irene: The Voice Between Fishermen and Consumers
An important role in this is played by Irene, our impact manager. As a marine biologist, she literally speaks the language of fishermen. She knows the challenges of the ocean, but also the culture of the communities dependent on fishing. Irene travels the world and has personally visited most of our fisheries. She listens to the fishermen's stories, learns from their knowledge, and translates this into how we tell our story to you.
Sometimes we cannot (yet) visit the fishery. In such cases, we carefully choose an ambassador together with the fishery. Always someone who has truly been at sea for years.
More Than a Can
The fisherman on the packaging is therefore not a marketing trick, but a symbol of our promise. It shows that eating fish can be a choice that is good for you, for the ocean, and for fishing communities worldwide.
And if you scan the QR code on your can, you'll discover even more stories from the fishermen.