Santa Cruz, California-based non-profit sustainable seafood consultancy FishWise and the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), the industry standard for digitally interoperable traceability in seafood, have established a new partnership to promote the widespread adoption of traceability best practices in seafood supply chains.
The two organisations aim to promote the implementation of interoperable, digitised traceability systems and the adoption of the GDST standard across public and private sectors. This collaboration, they said, could empower regulators and governments to support more standardised, transparent and responsible seafood supply chains.
FishWise and the GDST have highlighted “complementary strengths” that support this effort. The GDST standard was created by civil society and industry, but voted into practice solely by industry stakeholders, and is now considered to be the “gold standard” in seafood traceability. The GDST Foundation works to expand the adoption of the standard and evolve it through a multi-stakeholder dialogue process. FishWise, for its part, focuses on implementing traceability best practices by verifying data, assessing risks, and developing due diligence programmes with seafood businesses, governments and NGOs worldwide.
“Our new partnership with FishWise will allow us to make advances in the adoption and evolution of the Standard.” said Greg Brown, Executive Director, GDST. “FishWise’s deep involvement with its partners plus its collaborative and consultative approach with multiple stakeholders coupled with the GDST’s Standard and technical resources will bring traceability into many conversations and assist the industry and regulators in meaningfully adopting digital interoperable traceability in seafood.”
The partners also recognise both the private sector and governments have a role to play in adopting and encouraging traceability best practices.
“Standardising data formats in both the public and private sector, and making electronic information sharing more seamless between traceability systems is crucial. Not only for meeting companies’ responsible seafood programmes but also regulatory compliance and better governance,” said Sara Lewis, Director of Programmes at FishWise, “Therefore, the collaboration will also explore the connections between GDST adoption and regulatory compliance, in pursuit of greater uptake of the standards through government engagement.”
By strengthening traceability commitments, encouraging private sector investment in robust data systems, and engaging regulators and policymakers to align and support stronger data practices, GDST and FishWise believe their partnership will help achieve fully traceable global seafood supply chains.
