These were among the issues discussed at the recently held annual Sustainable Seafood Symposium hosted by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and WWF-SA’s Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI).
“In the absence of adequate traceability and supply chain transparency, markets cannot recognise responsible fishers, consumers cannot make informed seafood choices, and governments cannot successfully combat trade in illegal seafood products. A possible way to improve this situation is to continuously look at innovative solutions such as blockchain technology. This technology that is embedded in crypto currencies is applicable to driving transparency in commodity supply chains,” says Chris Kastern, WWF-SA’s seafood market transformation manager.
Increasing awareness and a growing sense of responsibility in the seafood industry has led to a number of global initiatives to help address these challenges, including the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability. This dialogue is an international, business-to-business platform that seeks to establish seafood traceability practices.
The symposium also saw the release of the WWF-SASSI Retailer/ Supplier Participation Scheme Report 2017 which showcases progress made over the last year by South African seafood vendors who have made commitments to sourcing sustainable seafood.
“The demand for sustainable and traceable seafood has been increasing worldwide for some years. More and more businesses are signalling their commitment to sourcing sustainable seafood and where products are certified, the MSC Chain of Custody system addresses traceability concerns for businesses all along the value chain. In this way consumers can be sure the seafood they are buying comes from legal, well managed fisheries,” says Michael Marriott, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Southern Africa manager.
