After nearly five years of its initial convening by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in partnership with the Global Food Traceability Center (IFT), the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) has now transitioned since October 3rd from an NGO-convened platform into a permanent organization that is self-sustaining, rooted in industry, and open to broad stakeholder involvement.
The Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST)—a major industry forum involving more than five hundred leading companies worldwide from across the seafood supply chain—released on Monday, March 16th the first-ever global standards for tracking seafood products from point of origin to point of sale.
These newly released Standards and Guidelines for Interoperable Seafood Traceability Systems, v1.0 are a critical step forward in the fight against illegal fishing and unethical labor practices and are game-changing for an industry under increasing pressure to demonstrate its compliance with high standards for ethical sourcing.
Over the past three years, WWF has helped lead the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) to help establish the first-ever comprehensive industry standards for seafood traceability. With more than five dozen companies from around the world and across seafood supply chains sitting at the table, the GDST is drafting standards that will dramatically improve the efficiency, reliability, and affordability of tracking seafood, helping businesses obtain and share the information they need about the origins of seafood products. That will lead to more transparent and reliable seafood supply chains, as consumers increasingly demand and as governments increasingly require.
