• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

SALT.

Search Toggle
  • What is Salt?
  • Principles
  • Seascape Map
  • Story Hub
  • Supply Chain
  • Dive Deeper
  • Search Toggle

Chapter five in SALT's "Overcoming Barriers" series on adopting electronic traceability

Image of net in background with title of blog overlaid, as well as SALT logo

Role of Human Behavior in Electronic Traceability Implementation

Introduction

 

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing damages fish stocks around the globe. Additionally, illegal fishing practices can sometimes occur alongside human rights abuses. Now, the world is waking up to these injustices. Government import regulations are working to ensure illegal products don’t enter their national markets, and some consumers are voicing their preference for certified and sustainably harvested fish1. 

“
Electronic traceability is the recording and sharing of relevant seafood product information via electronic means (2). Full chain, electronic traceability entails the electronic capture and sharing of seafood product information from the point of catch until the point of sale. It has the potential to make it easier for the seafood industry to comply with regulations and meet consumer demands.

 

Thankfully, companies currently deliberating making the switch to electronic traceability are not the first companies to undergo this conversion. The trailblazers who have piloted electronic traceability, along with their NGO partners, have written case studies, described solutions that helped them overcome obstacles, and created tools to make the process easier for others. Here, SALT has distilled this information to walk the seafood industry through the barriers to adopting electronic traceability and provide potential solutions to overcoming the challenges a company might face. This blog is the fifth and final in the series, “Overcoming Barriers: Solutions for adopting electronic traceability.”

Image of three fishers handling a fishing net

In the previous “Overcoming Barriers” blogs, SALT addressed the indirect and direct benefits for industry when widespread electronic traceability is adopted, as well as the challenges of sharing data seamlessly across the supply chain. In this blog, SALT covers how human behavior can both impede and catalyze progress towards traceability. Namely, we discuss the following behavioral barriers:

  1. Perception: competitive culture within the seafood industry fuels mistrust
  2. Self-interest: physical, financial, and emotional rewards hinder progress
  3. Lack of information: inadequate education on traceability

We also dive into specific tactics to help foster collaboration and implement traceability more effectively, such as:

  1. Co-design: involving stakeholders in the design process
  2. Incentives: reasonably rewarding participation
  3. Education: raising awareness of the benefits of electronic traceability

To read the rest of the blog, you can find it here:

photo of net in background, overlaid with white dots for design and the title: Overcoming Barriers, the role of human behavior in electronic traceability implementation

 

[1] Sterling et al., 2015

[2] Future of Fish Seafood Traceability Glossary

Tags: Obseries, Overcoming Barriers, Barriers, Eafm, ROI, Benefit, Overcomingbarriers, Solutions, Traceability, Incentives, Co-design, Codesign,
Share:

More Stories

Group standing in front of co design event banner in Tanzania
  • SALT Feature
  • Video

A reflection on a Tanzanian co-design event for traceability, featuring Felister Kamuli

February 10, 2023
  • SALT Feature

SALT 2022 in Review

February 9, 2023
  • SALT Feature

Q&A with IFT’s Global Food Traceability Center: How Governments can Build a Scalable, Long Lasting Seafood Traceability Program

December 13, 2022
seafood worker on boat pulling up catch
  • SALT Feature

What data can help us uncover human and labor rights risks in the seafood sector?

September 26, 2022
A dash of SALT logo
  • Audio
  • SALT Feature

Dash of SALT Podcast Episode 2

September 26, 2022
person pushing a tablet
  • Community Feature
  • SALT Feature

How Can Comprehensive Seafood Traceability Principles Guide the Design and Implementation of Electronic Systems in the Real World?

August 23, 2022
fishing boats
  • Community Feature

Q&A with MCD & VinaTuna: Applying the Comprehensive Traceability Principles in Vietnam

July 27, 2022
Photo of Mr. Ono
  • SALT Feature

Giving Fish a Passport? A New Electronic Traceability Effort in Japan

July 6, 2022
Supermarket aisle with empty red shopping cart
  • SALT Feature

U.S. Retail Traceability Trends: A Digest

June 15, 2022
RECEIVE UPDATES FROM SALT SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

Footer Logo
  • What is Salt?
  • Principles
  • Seascape Map
  • Story Hub
  • Supply Chain
  • Dive Deeper
  • Linkedin
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Spotify
  • Youtube
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

© 2023 SALT

This product is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of FishWise and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.