Saving Seafood

Broad alliance of seafood sustainability groups call for more international action on IUU fishing

May 26, 2023 โ€” A group of seafood sustainability organizations is calling on national governments across the globe to take more action to address illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

In a joint statement, SeaBOS, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) , the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), the Global Tuna Alliance (GTA), and Sea Pact called for nations to ratify and implement the Port State Measures Agreement; fully implement the Global Record; adopt the Voluntary Transshipment Guidelines agreed in FAO; and agree to the Roadmap for Combatting IUU Fishing adopted by the Economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

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GDST relaunched into independent entity with paid membership model

October 3, 2022 โ€” The Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) has reorganized and been relaunched into a permanent and independent entity with a paid membership model.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) convened the GDST as an ad hoc, NGO-facilitated process in 2017, and the two organizations will remain engaged as stakeholders and supporters with the new GDST, according to a release.

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Planet Tracker: Inflationary economy provides incentives to adopt traceability systems

February 3, 2022 โ€” High inflation and low-cost credit are providing an โ€œappealing windowโ€ for seafood firms to integrate a traceability system into their operations, according to a new Planet Tracker report.

The nonprofitโ€™s new research paper, โ€œImplementing Traceability: Seeing Through Excuses,โ€ said companies โ€œwho have to borrow to fund a traceability system will know that corporate debt rates remain low.โ€

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Seafood industry pilot study reinforces importance of standards to traceable, responsible supply chains

June 24, 2021 โ€” A recent seafood industry traceability pilot study conducted by GS1 US supports the value of universal standards to help seafood companies efficiently and effectively exchange supply chain data and improve end-to-end visibility.

The study was conducted in collaboration with the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), Beaver Street Fisheries, Bumble Bee Seafoods, Chicken of the Sea, FoodLogiQ, IBM Food Trust, Insite Solutions/Norpac, ripe.io, SAP, Walmart, and Wholechain. It follows a similar 2020 prototype that confirmed traceability solutions from FoodLogiQ, IBM Food Trust, ripe.io and SAP can operate, transmit, and exchange product data throughout a supply chain when GS1 Standards are applied.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Over 150 companies endorse statement calling for increased seafood traceability

February 15, 2021 โ€” Leading seafood companies across the globe โ€“ and the supply chain โ€“ have come together to issue a statement urging the rest of the industry and governments to take action on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The statement, organized by five major industry collaborations, calls on the seafood industry to adopt the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) standard, and for governments to ratify the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA).

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Groundbreaking new global traceability standards met with rapid industry support

November 4, 2020 โ€” Traceable and reliable seafood is crucial in helping businesses and stakeholders across the seafood sector retain their competitive edge in todayโ€™s industry. Companies participating in the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) โ€“ and the committee of seafood stakeholders steering it โ€“ know this well.

Launched in April 2017, GDST was established as a business-to-business forum with the core mandate of crafting a set of industry-wide traceability standards for seafood that would both enable interoperability as well as increase verifiability of products across sector systems.

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For signatories to Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration, progress is tangible

March 19, 2020 โ€” Seafood companies across the tuna supply chain are making strides toward meeting the four commitments that are part of the Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration.

The Global Tuna Alliance โ€“ a consortium of companies seeking to improve the tuna supply chain โ€“ surveyed the 66 companies that signed the declaration in 2017 to assess their progress, compiling the results in a report to be released soon. About two-thirds of companies responded.

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First version of comprehensive data standards for seafood traceability released

March 17, 2020 โ€” Dozens of methods of documenting seafood traceability โ€“ and hundreds of individual systems โ€“  have emerged in recent years as companies across the seafood supply chain and the technology vendors that serve them seek to demonstrate the sustainable, legal origins of their products.

Rarely can those systems seamlessly interact with each other or share data, a gap that poses an ever-larger problem as regulators draft new traceability laws and consumers demand more information about the origin of their food.

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Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability readies to launch GDST 1.0 at SENA 2020

February 14, 2020 โ€” Citing the importance of seafood as a global source of protein, increasing regulation, and creating greater efficiency in trade, the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) has developed a set of basic technical standards to allow for interoperability across seafood traceability platforms. The effort is intended to make global seafood traceability more reliable and more affordable for companies throughout the supply chain.

Because seafood is the most globalized sector of all food supply chains, it has an increased set of challenges โ€“ not just related to the complexity of its supply chains, but the broad array of sustainability obstacles across multiple geographies including labor issues, under-resourced management, and illegal fishing.

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Hackathons seek to create tech solutions for seafood traceability challenges

October 25, 2019 โ€” A pair of hackathons โ€” with EUR 10,000 (USD 11,100) worth of prizes on the line โ€” aim to improve seafood traceability by developing new technological solutions, including by leveraging blockchain.

The hackathons โ€“ one held in Cologne, Germany on 21 to 22 October and the other being held in Bali, Indonesia from 26 to 27 October โ€“ are being put on by the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST). For the Cologne hackathon, GDST teamed up with fTRACE and GS1 Germany. For the Bali event, GDST is partnering with SecondMuse and USAID Oceans and Fisheries Partnership.

Read the full story at Seafood Source