• 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

Trekking to the Tropics for Traceability (updated Sept 2020 with video)

Close-up of pile of lobsters

Tracing Lobster in Belize: A Q&A with The Nature Conservancy

The Seafood Alliance for Legality and Traceability visited Belize in 2019 to learn and share with the wider seafood community how The Nature Conservancy brought traceability to a lobster coop. Here's our Q&A with Julie Robinson, who distilled for us her journey in carrying out this project. Some of those lessons include: *Listening and developing trust *Give progress more time than you think *Demonstrate success before you expand *Be aware of how human behavior can cause obstacles *Learn where others have failed first
For more background on this coop’s journey to sustainability, please visit: youtube.com/watch?v=4FoxQom2WFQ
For more details on the traceability work in Belize, you can read more here: resilientcentralamerica.org/en/transitioning-to-traceability/
Music credit: Royalty Free music by Bensound.com, “Acoustic Breeze” and “Once Again”

  • SALT Feature
  • Video
August 30, 2019

SALT realizes the traceability stories we often hear come from those who have time and resources to share them. The stories that remain untold are frequently from the people on the ground, such as fishers and processors. It’s rare they share the pros and cons of their traceability project, but do they also want to call out what didn’t work? However, the entire picture is exactly what SALT wants to highlight–so others can learn the dos and don’ts of implementing traceability. SALT aims to bridge that gap. By going directly to those unable to share their traceability views, we’ll capture and share their valuable insights.

Because SALT intends to bring stories about traceability to the rest of the world, it means our connection to a project, in reality, needs to go above and beyond, “Would you like to visit our traceability project?” The seafood community wants useful information, and the effort to amass it requires more than a simple drop-in visit. Capturing the various perspectives, social habits influencing the acceptance of new technology, and political intricacies of why a traceability pilot may or may not catch on is decidedly complex. 

Belize sign with water and cloudy sky in the background

Lobsters in plastic tubs at an artisanal lobster fishery in Belize

An artisanal lobster fishery in Belize had recently integrated new traceability technology. It presented a great opportunity to interview the elements of this collaboration: technologists, fishers, processors, NGOs, and government. To document how those “cogs were turning,” SALT Project Directors Amy West and Traci Linder traveled to Belize in July 2019. Sitting down with those involved in the operation ended up being a fantastic exercise in not only gleaning essential details about a pioneering project in the region, but also in grasping why insightful stories from pilot projects are uncommon.  

It takes an enormous amount of time to travel, gather and connect stories, then craft them into a format that will capture people’s attention. More importantly, relaying the actualities of what’s happening in a traceability pilot can require some tight-rope walking. For instance, if we witness traceability challenges in a government or company, highlighting those difficulties must be balanced between bringing real-world lessons to the rest of the globe, while being mindful of frictions that may arise by doing so. SALT can’t be a beneficial guide if we can’t expose the truth. But where does helpful information cause harm to these efforts?

“
Knowing what others have done, knowing where they have failed is very valuable so we don't make those same mistakes.
Julie Robinson,
The Nature Conservancy, Belize

Interviewing fishers, government officials, international and local NGOs, and members of fishing coops in Belize took a tremendous amount of coordination from our host, The Nature Conservancy. They had already built relationships and trust within those groups, so we were reliant on them to bridge connections, rather than us coming in cold.

Timing was crucial. To accommodate the schedules of The Nature Conservancy staff, government officials, and the local lobster fishery, SALT staff needed to be flexible. Lobster season had kicked off just two weeks before our arrival, which also meant busy fisherman and plant staff. Interviewing those at the plant meant donning gear and shadowing people AS they were working. Without quiet or uninterrupted spaces to interview, audio capture was challenging. Video even more so. What happens when a camera lens drops on the processing plant floor? Or audio didn’t record, or video turned out unfocused? Balancing our need for information with their need to do their job required mindfulness and patience.

 

SALT staff Amy West follows lobster fishery workers outside the plant.
Shadowing those at the plant. Photo by Traci Linder, SALT
Plastic tubs full of lobsters surround plant workers at the lobster fishery. The plant manager points to direct the workers.
The plant manager directing staff at the coop. Photo by Traci Linder, SALT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lobster fishery staff sit at a desk with their computers during a Skype interview.
One meeting turned into a Skype interview in Spanish that was not conducive to filming and had terrible audio quality. Photo by Amy West, SALT

 

Overall, the visit was fruitful for SALT. It gave us the time to dig deeper, confirm facts, and even illuminate issues for the project’s collaborators. The openness we received in our interviews was essential. We found without back-door conversations or an extended view of the project, we would have missed some salient points. We were also fortunate that, for the most part, translation was not required to comprehend the conversations. Other sites visits will likely require it.

Photo of the lobster fishery including boats and water near the building.
The National Fishers Coop. Photo by Amy West, SALT

With staff and project limits, SALT must weigh many factors when choosing sites to visit. Projects are at different stages and may involve dissimilar groups and geographies. Though we have prioritized certain audiences (government and those working seafood-producing countries), we also want to include the disenfranchised. Overall, in our mission to tell unique stories from around the world, the projects we visit need to be replicable and, in some cases, comparable to help others learn. 

Finally, you can have the best-laid plans for setting out on these types of learning experiences, but will invariably walk away learning what could work better next time. We can’t emphasize enough how central the trusted, local champions are to you. Every project, country, and access to people will vary. Certainly food for thought for our next site excursion, and for those who intend to relay stories about traceability projects.

 

 

Salt staff member Amy West sits inside a bus.
We relied on our contacts for transport, or we took local school buses that lacked air-conditioning, save for one! Photo by Traci Linder, SALT

Written by

SALT staff Amy West
Amy West, M.Sc.
SALT Project Director
Tags: THe Nature Conservancy, Traceability, Lobster, Julie Robinson, Belize, ThisFish, Coop, Lessons,
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.