In a world-first for tuna fisheries, real-time verification and validation of fish deliveries from sea to port is being actioned through an innovative electronic reporting platform. WWF, the Environmental Defence Fund (EDF), and the Pacific Community (SPC) are celebrating the implementation of this electronic reporting, which has put ruggedized tablet computers into the hands of fisheries officials in key landing ports around the Pacific. This approach, complemented by the new Observer eReporting App for onboard fisheries observers, will provide supply chain transparency and traceability in the Western and Central Pacific tuna fisheries.
Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing remains a persistent problem in the Pacific region. This new technology will directly address non-reporting, misreporting, and under-reporting, which represents the greatest proportion of IUU.
Through the recent SPC Tuna Data Workshop held in New Caledonia, 13 fisheries officials from nine Pacific countries were trained on the use of these devices that will provide real-time information on fisheries management in the Western and Central Pacific region. In these member countries, port inspectors are now being trained using SPC’s Tails application (an in-port data collection tool) and fishing vessel captains are being trained to use the On-board application (to electronically report effort and catch data).
“Getting timely and accurate verification and validation of catch records at the point of landing has always been extremely difficult with a paper-based record-keeping system, but now port inspectors can go to the dock and input information that will immediately be fed into management systems,” said Bubba Cook, WWF’s Western and Central Pacific Tuna Programme Manager. “This technology links information collected in the vessel’s logbook, the fisheries observer’s report and the port inspector’s report, making real-time electronic catch documentation and supply chain traceability a reality, rather than just a concept.” “This electronic reporting technology is changing the game for fisheries management, and we need every tool available to ensure fisheries can operate more safely and transparently.”
Following the 2016 Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance (MCS) Emerging Technologies Workshop (held in New Zealand), WWF and EDF joined forces to support the development and implementation of a Port Inspection Electronic Reporting System (PIERS) that would be combined with applications already under development by SPC (the regional scientific services provider) to provide a single, durable hardware platform.
“Ruggedized tablets and the associated technology will support the move towards more efficient data collection systems, allowing fisheries managers to collect more timely and accurate catch and effort data.” said Sarah O’Brien, EDF’s Pacific Tuna Initiative Senior Manager.
After the exposure of human rights violations and other illegal activity in some seafood supply chains, seafood market interests are increasingly calling for improvements in transparency and traceability to reduce the risk of their brands being associated with such activities. It is expected that this initiative will lay the foundation for the further rapid adoption of these technologies in the region, which are designed specifically to target improved transparency and traceability of seafood products.
Source
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1705/S00060/big-technological-step-for-tracing-tuna-catches.htm