Blockchain Traceability: This Time It’s Personal
Fisherman to Chef. Australia to Singapore. Traceability doesn’t get more simple, nor more personal between these two industry leaders.
As we’ve mentioned before, traceability can be a fairly dry topic but it is mission critical to achieve from the first mile, and mostly in developing nations for seafood supply chains. As Fishcoin tokens are only redeemable (at present) for mobile air-time top ups, they have limited applicability in developed nations where most people are on post-paid accounts with their mobile operator.
However, traceability is still a requirement in developed nations where seafood mislabelling and fraud is a major issue. Thus using a blockchain system like Fishcoin, even alongside a paper or an electronic solution, is still relevant for building trust and differentiating you, your product, your company, and your brand in the market.
At Eachmile Technologies, and through the Fishcoin Project, one of the things we take delight in is being able to bring people together — this is about one of those stories. In this case it is Rick Kolega in Southern Australia and Lucas Glanville in Singapore.
Rick, the co-owner and general manager of Kolega Fisheries, is an industry leader. He has led by often being the first within his industry, Australia or the region to get ISO certifications for protecting the environment, for setting welfare standards for the crews etc. and thus he has received numerous accolades and awards along the way. He takes great pride in what he, his brothers, and their crews and staff do every day to produce and deliver the highest quality, sustainable prawns to the market.
On the other side of the equation is the Director of Culinary Operations at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Singapore. Not only awarded for his culinary pursuits, Chef Lucas has led the Hyatt hotels in Singapore and the region to many firsts — especially in sustainability. Chef Lucas, an Ocean Ambassador has implemented water, waste recycling, and chain of custody programs, he has set up rooftop gardens, and received the Marine Stewardship Council Hospitality Star Award at the 2019 World Gourmet Awards.
The team members of Eachmile Technologies have been working closely with both gentlemen since 2010 on a variety of sustainability focussed initiatives — mostly surrounding the MSC certified Western King Prawns that Kolega Fisheries supply to Chef Lucas and his team at the Grand Hyatt, Singapore. The latest shipment of Western King Prawns were blockchain traced using the Fishcoin application for 0.01 Fishcoin tokens — that is US$0.01c for a shipment of 1,500kg of sustainable prawns. It was quick and it was simple.
Some may ask, why is it so cheap? How do we make profit on that? Well we don’t. We leave it up to the market to decide what price is fair to pay. As it is designed for those in seafood supply chains in the developing nations, it is hoped that seafood importers in developed nations will figure out what a fair price for the data is and reward developing nation fishers and farmers. With 95% of seafood produced in developing nations, and markets like the US and Australia importing 70–90% of their seafood, it is really about getting a system for that trade. The more it is used in and between developed nation actors is great too — it means buyers will most likely introduce the system to their suppliers who are buying seafood from developing nations. What we do get from this is the satisfaction of helping two people connect that are striving to make the world a better place.
In the end it is not just about a transaction between companies. It is about people. About their stories and giving them recognition for what they do and their efforts to make the world a better place. So as much as code #MduAWJD1Fpq6me9bYE9 is important, so are the people behind it. Click on the trace code to see the story behind the batch.
