Hook to plate: how blockchain tech could turn the tide for sustainable fishing

Could using digital tags to track fish reduce seafood fraud, help conservation and hold everyone in the supply chain to account?

In recent weeks, a new $50m (35m) hybrid vessel set sail from Mauritius and headed out into the Southern Ocean where the crew will spend three months longline fishing for the Patagonian toothfish. By the time the fish are brought back, processed and sent to customers, consumers will know where and when that specific fish was caught, which boat landed it, who processed it and which certifications have been met. The technology enabling this is blockchain.

From the day it's landed to when it ends up on someone's plate, blockchain gives toothfish traceability right from the start," says Steve Paku, captain of the Cape Arkona. People can just scan the barcode and the whole story is right there in front of them."