Know What You Buy

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Overview

You can’t build a smart strategy if you don’t first get a full picture of what you’re facing. You need to know where your best opportunities are for transitioning your supply chain effectively toward sustainability. You also need to be able to identify crucial issues in your supply chain that could expose your business to potential danger and censure, ranging from health and safety risks from incorrect labeling to serious illegality such as unsafe working conditions, forced labor, or even human trafficking.

More than 85% of global fish stocks are at significant risk of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.

© Jürgen Freund / WWF

KNOW WHAT YOU BUY

Gathering sourcing data allows you to assess the current sustainability of your products, and identify associated risks, so that you can develop an action plan to improve and transition your supply chain.

 

© Antonio Busiello / WWF-US


Conduct a supply chain assessment

A supply chain assessment gives you a broad view of your company’s current sourcing risks and sustainability opportunities.

To start, gather all your sourcing data, and look across it to distinguish as much of the who, what, where, and how as you can for all of the seafood products in your portfolio. WWF can provide a list of common and feasible data elements, also known as Key Data Elements (or KDEs), as a starting point for this assessment. This process allows you to discover where there are gaps or inconsistencies in information. Knowing this will help you assess the current sustainability of your products, and identify associated risks, so that you can develop an action plan to improve and transition your supply chain.

© Antonio Busiello / WWF-US


Get traceability systems up and running

Effective traceability is one of the most important tools to end illegal fishing and strengthen sustainability practices.

Companies should be able to track seafood products to their point of origin – in this case that means the fishing vessel or the geographic location of the farm. It is critical that sourcing information can flow easily between points along your supply chain. Common data element collection across supply chain actors and system interoperability are important ways to help ensure information transfer.

EXAMPLES OF COMMON KEY DATA ELEMENTS (KDEs)


  • Species and product name;

  • Fishing gear type / Farming production method;

  • Geographic location of farm / Fishing location (EEZ, FAO Fishing Area, etc.);

  • Vessel identity (IMO/ID number, flag state);

  • Raw material certification status;

  • IUCN Red List and CITES Appendix applicability.

Learn More

The Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability

The GDST is an international, business-to-business platform established in 2017 and co-founded with WWF to create the first-ever global industry standards for seafood traceability. The Dialogue developed interoperable industry standards to improve the reliability of seafood information, reduce the cost of seafood traceability, contribute to supply chain risk reduction, and contribute to securing the long-term social and environmental sustainability of the sector. Since being published in March 2020, the GDST standards have been endorsed by multiple industry groups and other leading stakeholders in the sustainable seafood space. Dozens of companies have already made public commitments to implementing GDST standards, and more than 30 vendors are already offering third-party traceability services compatible with GDST.

THE GDST STANDARDS

 

© WWF-Malaysia / Mazidi Abd Ghani


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