Catch Area Tokenization

Organization: Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability

Name: Neil Aeschliman

Email: neil.aeschliman@wwfus.org

Challenge Statement:

Commercial seafood entities, governments and even consumers demand the ability to identify where seafood they trade was caught (in a simplified format) and assurance that it was not caught via Illegal, Unregulated or Unreported (IUU) fishing. There is a need to validate proprietary fishing vessel trip coordinates with fishing permitted waters and make that available to accredited parties.

Background:

Fishers’ catch location data is complex & proprietary and prevents traceability from effectively inhibiting the flow of IUU-caught seafood:

• Fishing vessels generate hundreds of GPS coordinates over weeks or months away from shore
• Fishers consider their catch location data to be highly proprietary and only permit access to fishing regulators or trusted 3rd parties
• Buyers of seafood want catch location and assurance fishers were operating where permitted but not all are in a position to deal with GPS coordinate datasets, which can quickly become overwhelming for them or their software to handle due to number of transactions and aggregation events Fishers are only permitted to fish a defined geographic region that varies based on species targeted, gear type used, and timing. In some of those geographic areas there are also sub-regions where fishers are not allowed to operate such as Marine Protected Areas (MPA). In order to determine if a fisher operated in a compliant manner with regard to location, the cumulative GPS coordinates of the fishers’ trip must be compared against the relevant geographic areas. This comparison inevitably compromises the proprietary nature of the fishers’ data unless it is only shared to a trusted 3rd party or regulatory body. Commercial seafood entities need the ability to identify where seafood they trade was caught (in a simplified format) and assurance that it was not caught via Illegal, Unregulated or Unreported (IUU) fishing. These same entities aggregate seafood from multiple vessels. Each of those vessels’ catch location data will be voluminous and complex. The software platforms that those seafood entities utilize would be easily overwhelmed by that dataset. It is infeasible for those entities to collect and confirm the compliance of the catch location data associated with each batch of seafood they trade. A means of credible assurance of the location of catch and IUU status of the seafood products does not exist today.

Possible Solution:

A conceptual or actual technological framework that enables regulators or credible third-parties to access catch location data of individual fishers’ trips transferred directly from satellite vessel positioning systems such as Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) or Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS). Additionally, commercial seafood entities that purchase seafood products directly or at arm’s length from fishers need access to a high-level output of catch location and immutable assurance the vessel operated where it was permitted. Suggested Elements to include:

• High-level output of catch location could be FAO Major Fishing Areas, the cumulative list of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), or US Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) Ocean Geographic Codes
• Means of collecting and storing for catch location data points generated by satellite vessel positioning systems without storage mechanisms
• Access protocols for catch location data from satellite vessel positioning systems with storage mechanisms
• An access protocols enabling regulators or third-parties to utilize their preferred mapping utilities to visualize the data would be preferred
• A protocol for preferred third-parties, on behalf of commercial entities at arm’s length, to request access for an additional validation of the stored data
• Hyperlinks or machine-readable addresses that show the location of each repository of catch location data in order to associate with batches of seafood product traded up and down the supply chain
• Storage protocols with similar duration as the life of the seafood products; up to six years from first discharge in some cases
• Immutable assurance of fishers’ permitted operations could take the form of digital tokenization

Resources:

• Examples of tokenization (https://www.ccn.com/wells-fargo-patent-envisions-a-tokenization-system- for-sensitive-data/ https://www.wolfandco.com/insight/how-data-tokenization-can-help-healthcare- entities-improve-their-data-security)
• Examples of VMS Data ( CatchAreaToken_Vessel Trip GPS Coordinates.xlsx)
• Map of authorized geographic area (EEZ, FAO Major Fishing Areas, Indonesian Fishing Management Areas)
• Diagram of supply chain actors and product flow (PDF: Catch Area Tokenization_Supply chain diagram.pptx)