On 5 April, the WWF Southern African Sustainable Seafood (WWF-SASSI) team embarked on its first-ever Retailer/Supplier Participation Scheme roundtable event, co-hosted with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). The discussions focused on whether implementing traceability systems in seafood supply chains is possible in a South African context. 

WWF South Africa’s Head of Business Development, Justin Smith, spoke about sustainability trends for 2024, including the increase in biodiversity loss and the need for traceable value chains to improve the sustainable use of natural resources. Michael Marriott, the Programme Director from the MSC, spoke on the value of chain of custody and the MSC’s Chain of Custody Standard. Finally, the Market Development Lead from the @Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), Huw Thomas, discussed the standards and guidelines for seafood traceability systems, as well as some solutions GDST offers for businesses to incorporate traceability in their systems. 

A key insight from the event were that in South Africa there is a huge area of growth for WWF-SASSI and the MSC to educate consumers about the importance of seafood traceability. Also, for seafood retailers and suppliers, the benefits outweigh the costs of implementing traceability in their seafood supply chains. These include increases in resilience and responsiveness when issues in product supply arise, an improved product quality, as well as a reduction in waste. Other benefits included helping to shape and meet regulatory standards, efficiency in company logistics and how traceability aids businesses to understand their supplier sourcing. 

WWF-SASSI acknowledges the “Seafood Champions” who joined the conversation on how to implement improvements in traceability in the South African seafood sector: SPAR South Africa, Atlantis Foods Group, Food Lover’s Market Holdings, Pick n Pay, The Shoprite Group of Companies, Spur Corporation, and Massmart. 

Learn more about the WWF-SASSI Retailer Supplier Participation Scheme.