Blockchain technology has found one more use case for itself – blocking of illegal fishing.
Blockchain tech is now being used by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to stamp out illegal fishing in the tuna industry. WWF made the announcement about the use stating that the transparency of the distributed ledger will prevent consumers from purchasing tuna from illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in the Pacific Islands. This will also help in eradicating human rights abuses, WWF said.
The deployment of blockchain technology is being done through a collaboration between WWF-Australia, WWF-Fiji, and WWF-New Zealand and global tech innovator ConsenSys, information and communications technology implementer TraSeable, and tuna fishing and processing company Sea Quest Fiji Ltd.
Sea Quest Fiji are being assisted by the companies to include the blockchain in order to track its tuna from the vessel to the processing facility to the distributor. Simply by scanning a QR code on a tuna package via a smartphone app consumers will be able to see where and when the fish was caught, and by which fishing vessel and method.
This blockchain pilot is part of WWF’s broader innovation initiative on how technology can help save the planet.
In the past steps have been taken to make fish catches traceable; however, relying on paper or web-based technologies to provide traceability have often failed. According to WWF, it’s believed that consumers will favour this method of transparency through the blockchain as it gets adopted by the entire tuna industry, which in turn will help to wipe out illegal operators who also use slave labour.
The WWF and Sea Quest are now seeking a retailer to partner in the project, enabling the completion of the tuna’s traceability story.