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Seafood Traceability

Information is power. Information about the fish on our plates has the power to improve fisheries management, support equitable working conditions for seafood laborers, and help prevent mislabeled and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) products from entering the market.

The ability to track and verify information about the origin and journey of seafood products as they pass through the supply chain is called traceability. Seafood’s long and complex journey from bait to plate makes it difficult for product information to be recorded accurately, consistently, and shared openly throughout each step in the supply chain. 

For companies that buy and sell seafood, the lack of product origin information and supply chain transparency can pose significant risks. These businesses can use traceability as a tool to collect seafood product details and leverage this information to reduce the risk of illegal and unethical activities in their supply chains. Moving towards electronic traceability throughout the entire supply chain creates a path to efficiently share standardized data. Ultimately, a verified and traceable supply chain can improve product recalls and give greater confidence that products are accurately labeled, legally harvested, and comply with responsible labor standards.

FROM BAIT TO PLATE: Learn how USAID Oceans works to track our seafood - Credit USAID Oceans

Electronic catch documentation and traceability

Catch documentation starts at harvest. For wild-caught seafood, that involves collecting information for each harvest that identifies what was caught, where, how, when, and by whom to help verify the legality of each fishing effort. It also provides scientists and fisheries management agencies with a better picture of the state of our fisheries.

Currently, seafood harvest data is primarily handwritten on paper documents. This process is inefficient for data transfer and management and is susceptible to transcription errors and the loss of documentation. The goal is to make catch documentation and traceability electronic (eCDT). If critical information can be digitally entered at harvest, it can be transferred with greater speed and accuracy to other people in the supply chain, such as regulators for better fisheries management to support overall seafood traceability. Additionally, vessel monitoring by satellite and electronic monitoring of the catch by sensors onboard helps verify the seafood’s path and sustainability claims.

infographic showing the seafood supply chain from harvest/capture to end consumer. With the use of eCDT systems, data is captured via a central database in each step of the product's journey and accessible for verification of legality.Click on image to see a larger view. 

Comprehensive eCDT

When referring to comprehensive eCDT, it means the system includes ecological, social, and economic data that accompany seafood products, allowing governments to strengthen the effectiveness of fisheries management, support legal and equitable human welfare conditions for seafood laborers, and identify and prevent illegal and mislabeled products from entering domestic and international markets. Creating a comprehensive seafood traceability program means it takes advantage of those 3 potential benefits – ecological, social, and economic.

graphic with economic, ecological and social rings

 

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SALT will focus on providing resources and highlighting global efforts to support more electronic traceability programs that benefit our environment, seafood workers, and ocean economy.

We acknowledge there are many obstacles industry and government have faced when adopting a digital traceability system. Through research, interviews, and on the ground site visits, SALT called out the major barriers and solutions to implementing eCDT.

Read more about the challenges of electronic traceability adoption and the existing solutions in our blog series: 

  • SALT Feature

Overcoming Barriers: Role of Human Behavior in Electronic Traceability Implementation

Seafood Alliance for Legality and Traceability (SALT)
2020
SALT has distilled lessons from existing traceability pilots to provide potential solutions to overcoming the challenges a company might face when adopting eCDT. This is the 5th in the "Overcoming Barriers" series and speaks to how human behavior can both impede and catalyze electronic traceability implementation.Press enter to go to this resource, Overcoming Barriers: Role of Human Behavior in Electronic Traceability Implementation
  • SALT Feature

Overcoming Barriers: Trouble with Technology

Seafood Alliance for Legality and Traceability (SALT)
2020
SALT has distilled lessons from existing traceability pilots to provide potential solutions to overcoming the challenges a company might face when adopting eCDT. This is the 4th in the "Overcoming Barriers" series and speaks to solutions to the technical challenges of implementing electronic traceability.Press enter to go to this resource, Overcoming Barriers: Trouble with Technology
  • SALT Feature

Overcoming Barriers: Speaking a Common Language Through Interoperability

Seafood Alliance for Legality and Traceability (SALT)
2020
SALT has distilled lessons from existing traceability pilots to provide potential solutions to overcoming the challenges a company might face when adopting eCDT. This is the 3rd in the "Overcoming Barriers" series and outlines solutions to the challenge of interoperability and seamless data exchange across the supply chain.Press enter to go to this resource, Overcoming Barriers: Speaking a Common Language Through Interoperability
  • SALT Feature

Overcoming Barriers: Economic Benefits of Electronic Traceability

Seafood Alliance for Legality and Traceability (SALT)
2020
SALT has distilled lessons from existing traceability pilots to provide potential solutions to overcoming the challenges a company might face when adopting eCDT. This is the 2nd in the "Overcoming Barriers" series and speaks to the direct business benefits of eCDT, such as regulation compliance, food safety assurance, strengthened brand reputation, and increased operational efficiency.Press enter to go to this resource, Overcoming Barriers: Economic Benefits of Electronic Traceability
  • SALT Feature

Overcoming Barriers: Indirect Business Benefits of Electronic Traceability

Seafood Alliance for Legality and Traceability (SALT)
2020
SALT has distilled lessons from existing traceability pilots to provide potential solutions to overcoming the challenges a company might face when adopting eCDT. This is the 1st in the "Overcoming Barriers" series and speaks to the indirect business benefits of eCDT, such as reducing risk, empowering marginalized groups, and improving ocean health.Press enter to go to this resource, Overcoming Barriers: Indirect Business Benefits of Electronic Traceability

OTHER RELEVANT RESOURCES

  • White Paper

Advancing Traceability in the Seafood Industry: Assessing Challenges and Opportunities

FishWise
2017
This white paper highlights many traceability initiatives happening across sectors, provides background on a range of important seafood traceability policies and regulations, outlines next steps seafood businesses of all types can take to improve their traceability practices, and provides a discussion of the traceability work on the horizon.Press enter to go to this resource, Advancing Traceability in the Seafood Industry: Assessing Challenges and Opportunities
  • Tool / Toolkit

Traceability 101

Future of Fish
This toolkit contains resources on traceability to meet internal NGO staff training needs and to use with industry partners, that were designed to meet the expressed need for multiple forms of media that include high-level concepts and more detailed explanations.Press enter to go to this resource, Traceability 101
  • Guidance Document

Taking the First Steps Towards Full-Chain Seafood Traceability: A Preliminary Guide for Industry

FishWise, Future of Fish, Global Food Traceability Center, World Wildlife Fund
2018
This document provides companies with initial steps for determining which seafood traceability technologies best fit their needs, while understanding the potential return on investment for these technologies.Press enter to go to this resource, Taking the First Steps Towards Full-Chain Seafood Traceability: A Preliminary Guide for Industry
Have a resource on seafood traceability? SHARE IT WITH US
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© 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.