Inventory Financing For Sustainably-Fished Albacore Tuna

Tre-Fin Day Boat Seafood founders Mike and Eryn Domeyer, along with the rest of the team, work hard to serve sustainably-harvested and highest-quality fresh fish directly to their Community Supported Fishery, wholesale, restaurant, and retail customers.

After discovering strong demand for their high-quality fish, Tre-Fin launched a project in 2021 to build an in-house processing plant that would expand their capacity and give them 100% control over the high-quality of their product.To meet growing demand, Tre-Fin processes not only their own catch, but also product from a network of like-minded community-based fishermen.They ensure that all of the product they are sourcing meet their sourcing standards and further their mission which is: “To use sustainable methods to upend the way the industry operates and deliver the highest quality, traceable seafood.: This is an exciting moment of growth for Tre-Fin, and an example of industry growth through collaboration and alignment of values.

Now that Tre-Fin’s capacity has expanded, they have accordingly brought on a Sales Manager to help increase sales and plant throughput. Tre-Fin’s pole-and-line method of fishing in the Pacific fishery has been named the “Best Choice”—by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch—for folks looking to include environmentally-responsible seafood into their diets.

We are honored to support Tre-Fin’s model and mission. We hope you’ll join us.

Use of Funds

This short-term 8-month loan will allow Tre-Fin to purchase additional inventory of primarily albacore tuna from other day boats in the area for processing, sale, and distribution to Tre-Fin’s customers.

Regenerative & Sustainable Practices

Transparency is hard to come by in the seafood business. Even products branded as “sustainable” are often mixed with industrial catches, so only a small fraction of the final market product is responsibly sourced. The truly murky waters of seafood sourcing fueled Tre-Fin’s mission to rebuild an entirely new and transparent supply chain.

• Rated by Monterey Aquarium’s Seafood Watch as “Best Choice” for methods that allow stock to replenish at a sustainable rate.
  
  
• Hook-and-line Harvesting—Reeling in fish on a traditional rod and line minimizes the amount of by-catch that occurs, which is a major ethical and sustainability issue of industrial “catch-all” methods.
  
  
• Circle Hooks—Circle hooks catch on or near the mouth of the fish (rather than the gullet), which minimizes damage, increasing the survivability of released fish.
  
  
• The 24-Hour Rule—This self-imposed limit not only ensures freshness and quality, it also means Tre-Fin won’t simply travel further and further as local fisheries are exhausted. It’s an unprecedented commitment to place in an industry desperately lacking true stewards.
  
  
• Fair Wages for Fishermen—Seafood is still a people business, and the burnout, financial insecurity, and inconsistent wages common on the Ilwaco docks are unacceptable by Tre-Fin standards. Tre-Fin’s CSF provides year-round economic opportunity for fishermen who receive premium prices and fair wages through the Tre-Fin Co-Op.