If you purchase seafood \u201cchances are whatever you get isn\u2019t very traceable\u201d, says Maggie Lee, the Asia-Pacific regional lead for global seafood traceability with WWF. But over the last 10 years, in the wake of large investigative reports that have revealed<\/a> the scale of seafood mislabelling<\/a>, there\u2019s been growing pressure for the industry to adopt \u201cfull-chain traceability\u201d. This would mean each piece of seafood could be tracked along every step, from ocean or farm right through to the consumer\u2019s plate. A new wave of technological innovations is rising to this challenge and gradually illuminating the murky supply chain. From surveillance on the high seas to blockchain, traceability tech is being backed by influential NGOs and adopted by large seafood companies.<\/p>\n As these tools enter the fold, what have they achieved so far? And where are they heading next?<\/p>\n Traceability isn\u2019t a new concept in the seafood industry. It has historically been achieved through a mix of paper-based and digital systems designed to ensure produce meets food safety standards. But in recent years, growing awareness of the industry\u2019s human rights abuses and environmental impacts have raised the stakes, expanding the scope of what we need to know about seafood to call it \u201csustainable\u201d \u2013 namely who caught it, how, where from and whether it was legal.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n We also need better ways to glean that information. \u201cThe increasing demand for full-chain transparency [has] shifted the rationale from what needs to be done to how<\/em> it should be done,\u201d says Nianjun Shen, a fisheries analyst at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Many see the answer in digital tools that can gather vast amounts of data, at multiple points along the supply chain.<\/p>\n The first big step in this direction came about 10 to 15 years ago with the widespread switch from largely paper-based catch records to electronic catch documentation schemes. These are now supplemented by other digital tools, many focused on the so-called \u201cfirst mile\u201d when, and shortly after, fish are captured at sea. That\u2019s where the critical traceability data can be gathered \u2013 the who, what, where and how of seafood. But it\u2019s also typically the most difficult to collect.<\/p>\n \u201cSo much of traceability has been focused on what happens once the fish reaches port. But all the opportunities exist for illegal fishing, and for fish to be laundered, [on the open ocean],\u201d explains Duncan Copeland, co-founder of Trygg Mat Tracking<\/a> (TMT), a non-profit based in Norway that provides fisheries intelligence. Collaborating with the non-profit Global Fishing Watch<\/a>, which maps the real-time location of commercial fishing fleets, TMT works to combine multiple data streams on vessels \u2013 location, ownership, past violations \u2013 to build digital interfaces that countries can use to track illegal fishing activities off their coasts, and to help enforce the law. The aim is to \u201cbring all those disparate data sources together to try and provide the best possible overview of global industrial fishing fleets\u201d, Copeland says, \u201cbecause that information doesn\u2019t exist anywhere else\u201d.<\/p>\n Global Fishing Watch\u2019s technology isn\u2019t groundbreaking. But it has completely changed the norm.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In other words, technology is making it possible to interrogate the crucial first link of the supply chain more closely than ever before. \u201cTechnology has changed what we expect from transparency and traceability,\u201d says Annie Brett, a professor of environmental law at the University of Florida who studies emerging technologies in managing the oceans. \u201cFor example, Global Fishing Watch\u2019s technology isn\u2019t groundbreaking. But it has completely changed the norm: now you can actually see where fishing boats are in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, electronic monitoring (EM) is bringing surveillance directly onto fishing boats<\/a>. EM cameras can replace human fisheries observers, to keep a constant watch on a vessel\u2019s activities, recording potential illegal fishing, transshipment activities or labour abuses. Cameras can both act as a deterrent and provide an accurate record of fishing activities. EM is currently installed on about 1,000 vessels worldwide, and it\u2019s gaining traction with big companies. Thai Union, one of the largest seafood processors in the world, plans to install all its tuna suppliers with the technology by 2025, says Darian McBain, the company\u2019s former director of corporate affairs and sustainability. \u201cAfter that time, we won\u2019t source from a vessel if it doesn\u2019t have EM.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n Thai Union owns major seafood brands like John West and is the biggest importer of shrimp into the United States. In 2015, some shrimp vessels supplying it were implicated in slavery allegations, and the company realised things needed to change rapidly. \u201cOur customers started to ask us: \u2018Are these accusations true?\u2019 And we had to have more information so that we could answer those questions truthfully,\u201d says Darian McBain.<\/p>\n Thai Union began asking all their vessels to supply basic traceability information. If they refused, they were dropped. Meanwhile, in partnership<\/a> with the Nature Conservancy, the company is trialling EM on the tuna fleet that supplies it. They are also working with Stanford University to develop machine learning algorithms that can swiftly process the camera footage to help build up a detailed history of fishing activities. By 2025, the company plans to install all its tuna suppliers with this technology, says McBain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n Most fishing fleets aren\u2019t supported by a company that\u2019s driving them towards sustainability, however. To import to countries that require basic traceability information, such as the United States, fishers typically have to gather that data at their own expense. \u201cIt\u2019s an absolutely terrible business model, because many people cannot afford to pay for [traceability technologies], and why should they?\u201d says Alastair Smart, co-founder of Eachmile Technologies<\/a>. The company is developing a free tool called Fishcoin<\/a> that\u2019s trying to weave reward into traceability systems. Built on the digital ledger known as blockchain, Fishcoin will enable buyers to purchase directly from fishers based in countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia. The fishers can charge a premium to provide traceability data about their catch, which is paid in tokens through blockchain that can be exchanged for mobile phone credits. \u201cDeveloped nation actors reward the developing nation actors to share data, and this helps demonstrate that it\u2019s legal at least, and reported and regulated in some way,\u201d says Alistair Douglas, also a co-founder of Eachmile Technologies. He believes this reward-based approach could help build up a cache of traceability data from fisheries in the critical first mile.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n Blockchain tech could also help illuminate the complex midsection of the supply chain. \u201cFor seafood, the middle is messy, and dark. There can be eight or nine steps between just the producer \u2013 whether fisher or fish farmer \u2013 and retail,\u201d says Marah Hardt, director of discovery at Future of Fish<\/a>, a non-profit bringing innovation to small-scale fisheries. Transporters, seafood processors and packaging companies might gather traceability information from whoever sells to them, if it\u2019s available. But that information often gets siloed at each step instead of moving forward, creating what WWF’s Maggie Lee calls \u201ca lost chain of information custody\u201d. Recovering that sequence is crucial for full-chain traceability.<\/p>\n However, if all actors along the supply chain of, say, Alaskan salmon were privy to one blockchain, they could use it to pass on information all the way to the consumer about how and by whom the fish were caught. Blockchains generate tamper-proof records of transactions, making it difficult to falsify data and guarding against problems like mislabelling. McBain believes that if they eventually covered whole supply chains, one day tools like this may even replace sustainability certifications (such as the Marine Stewardship Council\u2019s). \u201cCertification tends to be more of a one-off snapshot \u2013 a \u2018do you comply at this particular point in time?\u2019 Whereas continuous data capture could replace an audit with this real-time data flow.\u201d<\/p>\n Many companies are now investing in blockchain technology to track seafood along portions of the supply chain. Through its Food Trust<\/a> blockchain traceability platform, IT giant IBM has partnered with several seafood companies in the United States and Norway, to trace everything from Atlantic scallops<\/a> to Norwegian salmon<\/a>. Fijian tech start-up TraSeable<\/a> Solutions has been trialling blockchain technology on Pacific fisheries, and has so far tracked tens of thousands of fish<\/a> through the supply chain.<\/p>\n Fishcoin, meanwhile, is working with Thai Union to bring blockchain to the company\u2019s farmed Thai shrimp supply chains<\/a>. But blockchain shouldn\u2019t be taken as a silver bullet, according to a 2020 report by the FAO<\/a>. That assessment found the technology holds huge promise, but uptake is still relatively slow and mainly led by NGO and private-sector initiatives. So far, that has confined its use to specific sections of the value chain, and so its capacity to work across complex, multi-actor, whole supply chains has yet to be tested.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n Meanwhile, other tools are tackling transparency challenges that can creep in at various points along the supply chain. DNA-tracing to identify species mislabelling is a good example. \u201cDNA is irrefutable,\u201d says Dane Chauvel, co-founder of the Canadian supplier Organic Ocean Seafood, which imports premium seafood from countries including Japan, Mexico and Peru. Organic Ocean was an early adopter of DNA-tracing in 2008. Today, Chauvel works with researchers who independently DNA-check his stock. If something is ever mislabelled, he can quickly question his suppliers, most of whom he buys from directly to simplify his supply chains. Meanwhile, the results of the spot-tests are shared transparently online. DNA tracing is now evolving to become more rapid and portable: \u201cThere\u2019s great interest in being able to do tests randomly, anywhere and everywhere,\u201d says Chauvel.<\/p>\nThe first mile<\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/tuna-seafood-industry-technology-scaled.jpg\")
![\"A](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/fisheries-electronic-monitoring-cameras-scaled.jpg\")
Thai Union<\/h2>\n
![\"Fishcoin](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Fishcoin-rewarding-fishers-who-share-traceability-information-with-buyers.--scaled.jpg\")
The murky middle<\/h2>\n
Blockchain<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Ocean-Organic-Seafood-staff-take-a-sample-of-a-fillet-to-send-for-DNA-analysis-scaled.jpg\")