Several groups and firms in the western and central Pacific have collaborated on a project to use blockchain and radio frequency ID tracking to bring traceability to the region’s tuna sector.
The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), which is supporting the project through its branches in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, as well as tech firms ConsenSys and TraSeable, and tuna fishing and processing company Sea Quest Fiji are partners in the project.
The effort will replace paper records — or sometimes no records at all, according to Livia Esterhazy, CEO of the WWF’s New Zealand branch.
Through blockchain technology, soon a simple scan of tuna packaging using a smartphone app will tell the story of a tuna fish where and when the fish was caught, by which vessel and fishing method. Consumers will have certainty that they’re buying legally-caught, sustainable tuna with no slave labour or oppressive conditions involved. Blockchain technology is a digital, tamper-proof record of information that is accessible to everyone, she said.