Republished from Undercurrent News, 19 June 2018
The eight Pacific Island nations and territory in the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) tuna fishery, the world’s largest, have organized the tuna industry’s first large blockchain initiative, promising to give retailers, consumers and environmental groups information about vessels, captains, locations of harvest and when fish was processed.
The development was announced at the SeaWeb Sustainable Seafood Summit, in Barcelona, Spain, this week by Pacifical, the market development company that represents the eight nations, including the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, and also the territory of Tokelau.
The initiative, which is set to be launched by the end of July, is being developed with the help of Atato, a Thailand-based provider of blockchain services.
The fishery represents 25% of the world’s tuna landings, according to a press release. The initiative will cover more than 100 large fishing vessels and “the entire supply chain and chain of custody of about 35 million tuna fish caught annually in an area with a surface 40% bigger than Europe”, the release said.
