We celebrate World Ocean Day with an opinion piece on 'Traceability systems in the South African fish supply chain'.

As we celebrate World Ocean Day on the 8^th of June this year, we have a lot to think about. What do oceans mean to us? How do they affect our lives on a daily basis? What would we do if they no longer functioned as they need to? It is becoming increasingly important to think about the oceans and the impacts that we as humans are having on them. Today, we reflect on the traceability systems in the South African fish supply chain.

Aquacultural supply chain hierarchies are distinctly complex networks with several imbedded layers between each link. This structural complexity has become a foundational basis for one of the cardinal pillars of market failure: information asymmetry. Misalignment in reliable information sharing between stakeholders in the aquacultural supply chain has bred a moral hazard in the primary and secondary link. Purposely mislabelling of fish species and other unscrupulous practices have become ubiquitous. In a report by the European Parliament, fish was identified as the third-highest risk item for potential mislabelling fraud. This is not only unique to Europe, however. Fish mislabelling has become a world-wide phenomenon. A 2016 study that was conducted in 55 countries revealed that up to 20% of fish products sold in restaurants and grocery retail outlets were mislabelled. This shortfall in industry standard compliance has had far-reaching consequences on both the quality and traceability dimension of sea-food trade with unfavourable outcomes for fair trade practices.

The surge of low-quality seafood products is a direct consequence of mislabelling and substitution of species. Species substitution occurs when low-valued species are exchanged for premium-priced wild catch such as salmon. This practice occurs not only in informal fish market but, most concerningly, within formally licensed fisheries too. As licensed fisheries expand, inadequacies in proper quality control measures often lead to either missing or incorrect traceability information such as product origin, and the type of species traded. This results in the over-saturation of the market with compromised products and, to a large degree, incentivizes fish product laundering.  Inadequate traceability systems imbedded within every link of the aquaculture supply chain is at the root of the problem. Traceability systems have the potential to assist in eliminating the processing of low-quality and unverified seafood products.

Proficient traceability systems improve efficiency in the supply chain, enhance quality standards, reduce risk and liability in operations, standardize compliance to regulatory requirements, improve cross-enterprise competitiveness and, lastly, guarantee consumer confidence. Efficient tracing mechanisms are the ultimate prerequisite of highly functional supply chains. To this end, technological enablement has a tremendous potential to unlock traceability efficiency and reduce opportunistic behaviour in the market for aquacultural products.

Information asymmetry in aquaculture supply chains greatly hampers the average time it takes to trace a product. As an antidote, modern technological systems enable end-to-end ease of information flow and combined with multistakeholder collaboration, vastly improve the rate of  traceability throughout the supply chain. In turn, this enables identification and ultimately ‘nipping in the bud’ of hazardous food crisis outbreaks in real time, fast-tracking product recalls and minimizing health and economic damage.

Therefore, it is crucial that technology is embedded within tracing and specie verification systems throughout the aquaculture supply chains as a strategy to enhance regulatory compliance and boost consumer confidence.

It is up to us as consumers to demand better quality and regulation of the market if we are to improve the situation that we find ourselves in. While regulations are in place, the implementations on policies remain poor throughout the system and this will only be improved if enough pressure is applied to policymakers and the private sector. We need to step up and demand better.

As part of World Ocean Day celebrations, we are reminded of how valuable our aquatic system is, and of the role we play in ensuring that it survives and thrives. As consumers and actors in the system, it is our responsibility to hold leaders accountable, and encourage and invest in technology that improves this.

For more information on World Ocean Day, click here.