Jason Henry for BI
Crabbing is grueling work.
Fishers first prepare their crab-catching pots. Then, they boat out to sea and drop them. Inside their boats, they use devices that record the coordinates for where the pots have come to rest on the ocean floor. Then, they head back to land and wait.
Later, after 12 to 24 hours, but in some cases up to a week, fishers return to the same coordinates, pull in their pots, and examine their catches.
This is where the real work begins. Every jurisdiction has rules dictating the size and weight of crabs that fishers can harvest, so crabbers must measure each crustacean’s weight and shell size and then count, grade, and sort their hauls, as well as record the data they’ve collected, before they can consider the catch a job officially done. Until recently, most of these records have been written by hand in physical logbooks.
Managing these tasks and meeting rising consumer demands for sustainable crab meat isn’t easy. But a startup in Palo Alto, California, called SeafoodAI, says it has an AI-powered solution.
In April, SeafoodAI released CrabScan360, its tool designed to automate crab measurement, sorting, and data recording.
Rob Terry, SeafoodAI’s founder and CEO, told Business Insider that CrabScan360 acts as a “tireless deckhand” who uses AI-powered technology to collect all necessary data, including every crab’s size, weight, and grade. The software also uses this data to determine which crabs can remain part of any given haul and which ones fishers must toss back into the ocean.
How AI is helping crab fishers
CrabScan360 comes in two versions: one for the field and one for the factory.
The portable field version, released in April, is about the size of a carry-on suitcase and was built to deploy quickly on boats and docks. Fishers put one crab at a time on the scanner, and the device snaps photos. It uses sensors and built-in custom software to instantly analyze and log each crab’s size, weight, gender, and legal status.
The factory version, which is in development, is fully automated. Crabs move along a conveyor belt and pass under a scanner that evaluates each one. Crabs are then sorted based on the analysis. Each scan creates an individual data record that’s uploaded to the cloud. Users can then log in and see trends such as average size, yield, and legal catch percentages across an entire harvest.
CrabScan360 also creates a digital fingerprint for every scanned crab, providing “instant, accurate digital records tied to the specific harvest location, time, and date,” Terry said. This data travels with each crab as it moves through the supply chain, creating a clear chain of custody from pot to processor.
“This makes it easier to trace quality, reduce mistakes, and prevent waste,” Terry said. “With better data at every step, seafood companies can make faster, smarter decisions about what to keep, how to price it, and where it should go, leading to a more efficient and profitable supply chain.”
The AI behind the digital fingerprint also helps prove that each catch is sustainable, an increasingly important credential, as leading retailers such as Whole Foods, Walmart, and Costco have committed to exclusively selling sustainably certified seafood by 2027 or earlier.
What’s next for AI-powered seafood technology
Terry said that as SeafoodAI rolls out CrabScan360 to more customers, it plans to build a database to digitally connect harvesters, processors, regulators, and wholesalers with information about crab hauls in real time.
The company also plans to expand to other seafood markets, such as tuna, salmon, and shrimp, all of which have unique data collection requirements.
“Our approach lays the foundation for a more efficient, scalable, and transparent model, especially for small and medium-scale producers who are often excluded by cost or complexity,” Terry said.
“It’s a modern solution designed to meet the rising demand for trusted, traceable seafood.”
The post An AI ‘deckhand’ could make crab fishing less labor-intensive appeared first on Business Insider.
