FishMatch Group · Buyer journey
How aquaculture procurement works
From one structured RFQ to reviewed supplier responses and your decision: five steps for traded seafood and aquaculture projects, with people in charge of every commercial decision.
Buyer tools are free. Managed procurement support is for projects of USD 250,000 or more. Buyers pay no fee, and suppliers cannot pay for ranking or shortlist position.
How FishMatch Group supports commercial buyers
FishMatch Group is a buyer-side sourcing and procurement coordination service for commercial fish and shrimp supply and for aquaculture projects: farms, hatcheries, processing and equipment. You submit one structured RFQ; our team clarifies it, identifies potential suppliers, coordinates their questions, and helps you compare the information and quotations received. You decide whether to proceed. We coordinate introductions; we are not the seller, producer or importer.
Two different kinds of purchase
Traded seafood
Harvested farmed fish and shrimp bought as food products — for importers, distributors, processors and food-service or retail buyers. Requests cover species, product form, size and grade, packing, volume program, season, cold chain and import documents.
Source farmed seafoodAquaculture infrastructure and projects
Fish and shrimp farms, RAS, ponds and cages, hatcheries, processing plants, equipment and turnkey project procurement — for farm owners, investors, developers, integrators and institutional projects. Requests cover species, capacity, site, water, system scope and technical delivery.
Submit a project RFQWhy buyers use sourcing support
Cross-border supplier discovery takes time
Finding producers, manufacturers or solution providers in other countries — and learning which ones can actually address your request — can take weeks of research and outreach.
Information and quotations are inconsistent
Offers arrive in different formats, currencies, units and delivery terms, often with missing details or unstated exclusions.
Price is only one part of the decision
Buyers need to compare specifications, commercial terms, volume and availability, documents and certifications, delivery conditions and risk.
Fragmented communication slows decisions
Questions and answers spread across email, chat and calls with several suppliers make it hard to see what is confirmed and what is still open.
What a structured, confidential process can help with
Less coordination work
One channel for supplier questions, follow-ups and responses, managed by our team.
A broader view of potential supply
We look across countries and supplier types that fit your request, not only the ones you already know.
Offers that are easier to compare
Information and quotations are organized against the same RFQ baseline, with gaps and exclusions kept visible.
Open questions surfaced earlier
Missing documents, unclear specifications or delivery assumptions are raised before you commit.
We do not promise savings, guaranteed supply or quality, exclusive access or the removal of commercial risk.
What we do — and what we are not
We coordinate sourcing and procurement introductions for buyers. We do not own goods, and we are not the producer, manufacturer, seller of record, importer of record, inspection laboratory, customs broker or carrier.
We do not guarantee legal or regulatory compliance, food safety, quality, certifications or commercial outcomes. Availability, specifications, certifications, quotes, prices and delivery windows must be confirmed for each RFQ.
How suppliers are checked
Our team reviews information a supplier provides or that is publicly available, such as company registration, stated capacity, project or trade references, certificates provided for review and service coverage. Each point is recorded as a supplier statement, a completed document check with its date, or missing. This is a document and profile review — not an on-site audit, farm or factory inspection, product inspection, laboratory test or certification. If your purchase needs those, they are carried out by independent providers you appoint.
Your request stays confidential
Your RFQ goes to the FishMatch team, not to a public board. You review what will be shared before outreach, and project details go to potential suppliers only as needed to obtain responses. Your company name and contact details are not passed to suppliers without your approval. Supplier communications stay mediated by our team, and supplier names and direct contact details are not shown in the buyer experience.
Who it is for
Managed sourcing support is for commercial requests of at least USD 250,000: total project value for aquaculture projects, or total annual or seasonal program value for seafood — not per shipment. Submitting an RFQ is free; buyers pay no fee, and suppliers cannot pay for ranking or shortlist position. The first human response comes within one business day; supplier quotation timing depends on the request and supplier responses. Smaller or early-stage requests can use the free guides and calculators.
General guidance from official sources
These public references explain general food-safety, animal-health, trade and delivery-term rules. They are not a description of FishMatch services, and the requirements that apply to your purchase depend on the products, origin and destination.
- Codex Alimentarius — international food standards, including the Code of Practice for Fish and Fishery Products
- WTO — Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
- WOAH — Aquatic Animal Health Code and Manual
- U.S. FDA — Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls guidance
- European Commission — Access2Markets import requirements
- ICC — Incoterms® 2020 rules
- FAO — The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture
Step 01
Submit a structured RFQ
Start with what you know. A useful RFQ separates confirmed information from targets and questions that still need investigation.
What you do
- For traded seafood, state species, product form, size and grade, packing, volume program, season, origin preference, destination, required certifications and import documents, and cold-chain needs.
- For a project, identify the species and life stage, country, site and proposed system: ponds, cages, Biofloc, RAS, hatchery or processing.
- State the production target with units and time period, available water and power, budget currency and intended dates. Mark estimates and unknowns rather than guessing.
- Add the equipment or services you need, existing infrastructure, site constraints and any available water analysis or concept drawings. Share only information you are authorized to provide.
What FishMatch does
Your submitted request reaches FishMatch, not a public supplier board. The project team reviews the scope and asks for missing information before deciding which procurement support is appropriate.
What you take forward
A private initial brief with an explicit list of known inputs, assumptions and missing evidence.
Submitting a request does not place an order, approve a supplier or authorize automatic outreach. You can use the free planning tools without submitting a request.
Check your inputs with free calculatorsStep 02
We clarify and identify options
Turn the initial idea into a consistent requirement before asking anyone to price it. The aim is to expose gaps, not make a preliminary calculator look like a certified design.
What you do
- Clarify water quality, land and permitting status, energy reliability, operating skills and the intended harvest or processing output.
- Distinguish annual production from peak biomass, feeding load and oxygen demand. Supply measured site data where available; leave unverified values open.
- Review the scope boundary: civil works, treatment, oxygen, feeding, monitoring, installation, training, spare parts and commissioning. Decide what belongs in the request and what is excluded.
What FishMatch does
The FishMatch project team reviews the brief, organizes technical questions, identifies potential suppliers or solutions to approach, and flags matters requiring qualified local engineering, biological or regulatory advice. Optional AI can help organize entered details, but does not approve a design or contact suppliers.
What you take forward
A reviewed technical scope and a clarification list that can be used as one baseline for proposal requests.
You review the scope and intended information sharing before approved, team-managed outreach. Local approvals and species-specific engineering remain separate requirements.
Prepare the technical procurement scopeStep 03
We coordinate supplier questions
Suppliers usually need clarifications before they can respond. Routing those questions through one channel keeps every answer tied to the same requirement.
What you do
- Confirm what may be shared with potential suppliers. Your company name and contact details are not passed on without your approval.
- Answer clarification questions the team relays, and say when a requirement changes so every supplier works from the same version.
What FishMatch does
Candidate research is followed by human review of available registration, relevant references and service evidence — a document and profile review, not an on-site audit, product inspection or certification. An authorized team member approves and manages outreach, relays supplier questions and collects comparable information and quotations where suppliers provide them.
What you take forward
Supplier responses gathered against one requirement, with outstanding questions listed.
Supplier communications stay mediated by the FishMatch team. No number of responses, quotation turnaround or supplier availability is guaranteed.
Step 04
We help review what was received
Compare actual responses against the same requirement, not just the lowest headline price. Missing evidence and exclusions must remain visible.
What you do
- Review anonymized proposal references through FishMatch. Supplier identities, websites, emails and phone numbers are not exposed in the buyer experience.
- Check capacity and design assumptions, included equipment, site interfaces, delivery terms, taxes and freight, installation, warranty, service coverage and spare parts.
- Compare quoted currencies and payment milestones separately. Build lifecycle scenarios from stated energy, feed, consumables and maintenance inputs; an unpriced item stays unpriced.
What FishMatch does
The team organizes received responses side by side — commercial terms, specification, volume, availability, documentation, logistics assumptions and open risks — marking each point as supplier-stated, checked or missing. Research or a match signal is not certification.
What you take forward
A scope-aligned comparison of the offers actually received, with documented exclusions, evidence gaps and questions for clarification.
No quote count, price, savings or supplier turnaround is guaranteed. You choose whether to continue; evaluation does not automatically select a supplier or commit your budget.
Use the proposal comparison guideStep 05
You decide; we coordinate next steps
You choose whether to proceed. If you do, keep decisions, quotes and execution planning together as the purchase or project moves forward.
What you do
- Sign in to save your own project, add tasks and target dates, and maintain CAPEX and operating-cost scenarios using your figures and received quotes.
- Record design decisions, tender clarifications, build dependencies and commissioning acceptance criteria. Track missing approvals, documents and responsibilities explicitly.
- Review the actual commercial documents with qualified legal and technical advisers before any commitment. Record delivery checks, training, test results, deficiencies and warranty actions.
What FishMatch does
FishMatch coordinates the agreed next steps and introductions within the existing review process. Contracts, payment, import and delivery obligations sit with the contracting parties. Your private workspace supports project tracking; suppliers, engineers and contractors remain responsible for their contracted work. Financing introductions, if relevant, are exploratory and never a promise of approval.
What you take forward
An owner-controlled project record: timeline, budget scenarios and available quote or document records, with decisions and unresolved actions kept visible.
A saved task or completed milestone is not proof of delivery, regulatory approval or system performance. Workspace progress does not change the internal CRM sales stage, and a project is not automatically attached to a customer record.
Open your private projectsBuyer sourcing questions
Before you take the next step
Your next step
Start with your project brief
Share your actual requirement for private human review. Procurement assistance is for projects of USD 250,000 or more; no purchase obligation, automatic supplier outreach or guaranteed outcome.
Still defining the project? Continue with the free planner.
Send us one fish, shrimp, hatchery or RAS project and we will help evaluate sourcing options — supplier shortlist, RFQ preparation and quotation comparison. Your client relationship stays with you.
How we work with consultantsShort answer
What is the fastest way to get quotes for How We Work?
Submit one structured request for How We Work. FishMatch Group translates it into a technical RFQ, runs a confidential sourcing round with project-matched international suppliers, and returns comparable quotations. No fee is charged to the buyer, and your identity and project details stay private until you choose to proceed.
- How it works:
- One structured request, human-reviewed before any supplier outreach
- Typical turnaround:
- Depends on scope and site data; no turnaround is guaranteed
- Confidentiality:
- Supplier names are never exposed during evaluation
- Cost to buyers:
- No fee charged to the buyer