Online seafood market Seafood Souq is stepping up support for its partners in Senegal, Oman, and Bangladesh.
The company aims to develop and implement seafood traceability systems to address illegal fishing and align supply chains to the fast-changing dynamics of the global seafood market.
Seafood Souq CEO Sean Dennis told SeafoodSource that Seafood Souq, through its traceability signature tool “SFS Trace,” is working with its partners, which include fishers, processors, and cold-chain service providers, in these countries “to facilitate international seafood trade and promote better fishing and harvesting practices that have minimal environmental impact.”
SFS Trace is a tool accredited by the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) that facilitates efficient traceability throughout the seafood supply chain while adhering to regulatory and consumer requirements. The tool uses an automated algorithm that tracks data, such as date of catch, location, producer information and background, and more, in an effort to map a piece of seafood’s journey from ocean to table.
“In Senegal, Oman, and Bangladesh, Seafood Souq acts as network orchestrator in building a streamlined supply chain, and SFS Trace provides full supply chain traceability to the eventual seafood purchaser in markets such as Europe and the U.S.,” Dennis said.
SFS Trace also operates both as a trade tool and technology product that is licensable as a software-as-a-service (SAAS) product to seafood supply chain players globally.
Dennis said Seafood Souq’s partnerships in the three countries involves “working with local fishers in areas such as investment, training, and best practices and then building an effective cold chain at landing to address wastage issues and to ensure the quality of the catch is maintained and fishers are able to get the best price.”
In Oman, Seafood Souq has piloted a project with the International Pole and Line Foundation that involves giving Omani fishers engaged in the country’s one-by-one handline operations the skills needed to produce higher-quality, grade-A sashimi tuna. Seafood Souq, which recently expanded its operations in the Middle East, will then market the products on its digital platform.
Dennis said recent initiatives in the European Union and the U.S. aiming to cut down on illegal seafood imports and improve food safety have elevated the role traceability plays to the point where it should now be an essential component of every seafood company’s business. In 2020, the FDA announced the launch of a “New Era of Smarter Food Safety,” an initiative leveraging on technology and other tools to improve food safety imported by the U.S. through the creation of “a safer and more digital, traceable food system.” Dennis called it a wake-up call to seafood companies to fast-track their transition to effective seafood traceability systems.
“Traceability within the seafood supply chain has gone from being nice to have a few years ago to being a must-have in many countries in just a few years,” Dennis said. “Traceability provides a channel for good actors to show off the work they do and compete on a level playing field that an opaque supply chain fails to provide and also makes it impossible for bad actors, the illegal, unreported, and unregulated [IUU] fishers, to operate.”
Illicit fishing practices continue to wrack Africa’s fisheries, with countries such as Senegal grappling with rampant IUU fishing despite government initiatives to mitigate these issues.
A recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated Senegal loses about CFA 150 billion (USD 249 million, EUR 229 million) annually to IUU fishing.
“Even though the government of Senegal has made considerable efforts through the adoption of a new law, the development of a national action plan to combat IUU fishing validated in 2015, and the acquisition of operational resources, IUU fishing activities remain rampant,” the report stated.
Coastal demersal stocks, with high market value in the international market, are one of the most-overexploited seafood products in Senegal, according to the USDA.
However, Dennis is optimistic that the use of new technology and tools such as SFS Trace can support seafood source markets such as Senegal to easily transition into full data traceability, therefore boosting its chance of increasing its legitimate share in the global seafood market.
Furthermore, Dennis said that the pandemic and the ongoing conflict with Russia and Ukraine may have actually “served to strengthen the need for not only traceability from source but also for resilient supply chains.”
“In many cases, seafood buyers searched for alternative or new sources that are closer to the buying market due to increased freight costs and carbon emission awareness,” Sean said.
Seafood Souq has made inroads in at least 35 countries, and Dennis said that going forward, the company will focus on “developing these source markets to bring better fishing and harvesting practices to limit environmental impact, as well as positively benefit fishing communities both socially and economically.”
The company will present its working implementing SFS Trace in Senegal, Oman, and Bangladesh at the next U.N. Ocean Decade conference in April 2024 in Barcelona, Spain.
Photo courtesy of Seafood Souq
