- Blockchain Technology using to combat illigal fishing.
- Strengthen the Acquaculture traceability.
- Provide easy solutions to share fishing data globally.
The U.S. Coast Guard warned against illegal fishing activities, which had become a global issue. Unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is not a recent problem. The fishing industry has been experiencing this issue for many years.
Although, this criminal activity is not the same as other criminal activities because the ocean surface covers almost 70% of the earth. Therefore this figure made it difficult to track and control the crime.
In these times of trouble, using blockchain technology is the appropriate and best way in front of the authorities.
Why has illegal fishing become the serious issue
The Environment report of December 13, 2022 stated that the world’s population is expected to reach 9.8 billion people by 2050. Therefore, it has become an important concern to find a method for preventing future food scarcity.
According to the local media news, aquaculture mass production is 200 million tons of seafood annually, making it one of the world’s major food suppliers. However, illegal fishing has become a worldwide threat. The United States authorities took this issue seriously and began focusing on it. They have started patrolling to control the activity.
To overcome this issue the industry leader has made various efforts to overcome this issue, such as automating fish food supply and lead-free fishing gear. Unfortunately, these practices cannot provide 100 % positive results, therefore the issue has seemed more serious than ever.
Nevertheless, the research shows that one-fifth of wild-caught fish are caught illegally. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) mentioned that 55% of fish stocks in American fisheries are overfished. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) stated that 90% of the ocean fish stocks had been overfished.
How Blockchain can help
Blockchain technology can be the best option to handle these activities. Blockchain has the feature to record the transaction and other data which can never be deleted, edited or hacked.
This feature helps the fishing industry to track and manage the supplies. People widely see the use of blockchain in cryptocurrency but as per time blockchain technology has set its roots in mainstream work. Nowadays, blockchain technology is widely used in logistics, healthcare, regulatory compliance & audit and many more.
This technology can help the aquaculture industry by recording the fish journey from boat to the grocery stores. According to the report, the fishes will get the barcode on them that will provide the information how fisherman caught them including their whereabout, the time spent at particular locations.
In this way the barcode will narrate the entire story of the fish which will help to keep strict observations on the activity. That’s how the illegal fishers can be detected.
Rather than this, customers can also check the details by scanning the barcode about the fish from grocery stores. That the fish is old and whether it is worth buying or not. That’s how blockchain technology has entered as the savior.