#35 Rob Terry: Building SeafoodAI—Biometric Scanners and Real-Time Traceability

Rob Terry is a serial entrepreneur and technologist with 25+ years of experience at the intersection of sustainability, technology, and real-world systems. He is the founder and CEO of SeafoodAI, which builds biometric scanners and digital tools to modernize seafood supply chains with real-time traceability and compliance. Previously, Rob founded SmartCatch, a pioneer in deep-sea monitoring for bycatch reduction, which was successfully acquired. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Crunchbase News, and National Fisherman. He’s held leadership roles at Whole Foods, PARC, UCSF, and Silicon Graphics, and is passionate about bringing scalable tech solutions to overlooked, impact-driven industries like ocean sustainability and food systems.

In this episode, we cover:

• How a “tireless AI deckhand” can cut labor, waste, and fraud on boats and in plants

• Turning analog fisheries into digital, verifiable “sea-to-table” supply chains

• Why data (not just devices) will power the next wave of seafood innovation

• Fundraising realities for ocean tech and where Rob is heading next

Learn more about Rob Terry’s company:

- https://seafoodai.com

About Federico Ramallo ✨👨‍💻🌎

🚀 Software Engineering Manager | 🛠 Founder of DensityLabs.io & PreVetted.ai | 🤝 Connecting 🇺🇸 U.S. teams with top nearshore 🌎 LATAM engineers

- 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/framallo/

- 🌐 https://densitylabs.io

- ✅ https://prevetted.ai

🎙 PreVetted Podcast 🎧📡

- 🎯 https://prevetted.ai/podcast

- 🐦 https://x.com/PrevettedPod

- 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/prevetted-podcast

00:00 – Cold open: “AI deckhand” for crab boats

01:30 – Host intro + Rob Terry bio

04:30 – Why SeafoodAI? The pain points on docks & boats

10:00 – Tech dive: How CrabScan360 actually works

16:00 – Fisher reactions & workflow changes

21:00 – Traceability, compliance, and killing paper logbooks

26:00 – Business model, ROI, and scaling rugged hardware

31:00 – Lessons from SmartCatch & Whole Foods

36:00 – Funding ocean tech: Techstars, NEC X, BlueSwell

41:00 – Roadmap: Next species & data products

45:00 – Advice for engineers entering ocean/sustainability tech

48:00 – Myths about “sustainable seafood” Rob wants gone

50:00 – What keeps Rob motivated when seas get rough