The Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) was developed amid an increasingly urgent need for suppliers, producers and consumers to know where, when and how seafood products are created and handled, along the entire value chain.
Speaking to WeAreAquaculture this week, GDST Dialogue Lead Richard Stavis explains that developing a global traceability standard is not only a technical and logistical challenge, but also a social and cultural one, affecting a wide range of international stakeholders with diverse needs, resources and priorities.
In developing the standard, the GDST aims to maintain full interoperability, enabling companies to ensure the legal origins of seafood products around the world, as well as supporting business needs for traceability for a wide variety of uses across very different businesses and contexts.
In pursuit of this aim, the GDST is holding a series of regional meetings over the next few months with stakeholders from the seafood industry, regulatory bodies, NGOs and universities.
Facilitated by Stavis, who is himself a former seafood industry CEO, the Dialogue will make its first stop in Singapore on Monday 11 September, to hear the perspectives of stakeholders in Asia and Oceania.
Dialogue: understanding the “on-the-water” perspective
“Traceability is about data and it’s about the ability to bring that data through the system,” Stavis explains.
“The idea is that it’s a shared format, where once the data is captured, it doesn’t need to be changed. It has to be meaningful, so that people can make their decisions based on that data.”
“Until seafood and aquaculture companies all have the ability to get this information regularly, to have confidence in it, to get it the same way from everybody in the supply chain, they’re not going to be able to achieve what they want to achieve.”
But how does the standard stay relevant and keep up with changes in the industry? “That’s done through dialogue, through constant review, revision and update,” he says.
Key to this is what Stavis refers to as an “on-the-water perspective,” understanding what implementation of the traceability standard means at the operational level. “Sometimes what is being asked, or what is being defined, is something that really doesn’t fairly translate into the real world.”
“Until seafood and aquaculture companies all have the ability to get this information regularly, to have confidence in it, to get it the same way from everybody in the supply chain, they’re not going to be able to achieve what they want to achieve.”
“It’s the industry that votes on what will be implemented in terms of any revision or expansion, or any changes to the standard,” he explains.
The dialogue process is taking place region-by-region, starting in Singapore, before moving to engage with stakeholders in Europe, the Middle East and Africa on 23 October. This will be followed by a final regional meeting in North America in March next year. The meetings will take place both in-person and online for attendees in the same time zone.
“After we have all of the data from the regional working sessions, we will be able to put together a really fantastic agenda and update the platform for all the industry players to vote on at the annual plenary session,” Stavis says.
Traceability, sustainability and certification: differences and synergies
Traceability, sustainability and certification all overlap to some extent, Stavis notes, and this at times causes some confusion.
“When the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability was originally created, I think the mindset was that traceability and sustainability were pretty much the same thing, or at least very closely interconnected,” Richard says.
However, he stresses, traceability is much more, with the possibility of capturing data on social accountability, animal welfare, and carbon emissions – as well as information on feed ingredients, and the use of marine by-products and sidestreams.
“Anything that you think could be useful data – it can all be formatted in such a way it can be captured by the system,” Stavis says.
“One of the biggest questions we’ll be asking is about the additional data frameworks, that will allow people to choose to capture data specific to some of these priorities.”
“Anything that you think could be useful data – it can all be formatted in such a way it can be captured by the system.”
Traceability can also support certification or provide un-certified producers with evidence about the quality and provenance of their products, Stavis adds.
“I think some people might ask, if I have certification, is that the same thing as traceability, and the answer is not entirely. Not all certification schemes capture all of the traceability data requested in the standard format. Also, no claims can be made regarding a certified product once it loses chain of custody.”
“We’re here to empower the industry, to create the conditions that allow seafood and aquaculture companies to succeed. We want to enable them to develop the standard in a way that’s meaningful for them,” he adds.