Originally Published: https://blog.wholechain.com/the-un-global-compact-hosts-dinner-showcasing-traceable-seafood-and-aquaculture-supply-chains-a5e7477f3ca9
Seafood industry leaders convened to discuss innovations for a Better Food Future at a dinner featuring traceable and responsibly sourced seafood
On Wednesday, April 26th, the UN Global Compact Ocean Stewardship Council, UNGC Ocean Accelerator Network, the Global Seafood Alliance, IDH and Envisible hosted a multi-course dinner convening seafood industry leaders advancing the UNGC Tipping Points for Healthy and Productive Oceans.
The working dinner featured blue food ingredients traceable to the source and/or committed to supply chain transparency. Envisible, Aqua-Spark, xpertSea, Benson Hill, Veramaris, Environmental Defense Fund and Wholechain made the evening possible with sponsorship, ingredients and QR-based storytelling about the ingredients’ journeys from source to plate.
The working dinner forms part of a series that launched last June 2022 as an official side-event to the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, and was followed by a dinner during UNGA 77 in New York City. This past March the UNGC and the above co-hosts and sponsors hosted a Night at the New England Aquarium in Boston during Seafood Expo North America. Common outcomes include partnerships between buyers, feed companies and seafood and aquaculture producers and commitments to implement traceability in global supply chains.
Mark Kaplan (Envisible), Wenche Grønbrekk (UNGC and SeaBOS) and Knut Moestue (UNGC Norway) started the evening with an introduction to the UNGC Ocean Accelerator Network. The Network was relaunched by the UNGC and Envisible, a responsible sourcing company, technology providerand the Network’s lead startup, to accelerate initiatives advancing the UNGC Tipping Points for Healthy and Productive Oceans.
ESG case studies: traceability used to advance ocean health and economic opportunity for small scale fisheries
As one of the UNGC’s key tipping points, traceability underlies the Network’s goals and is a central component of the UNGC dinner series. Jayson Berryhill of Wholechain, a blockchain-based traceability company and one of the evening’s sponsors, discussed traceability as an imperative for regulatory compliance, supply chain integrity, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. On each table, bottles containing PADNOS traceable, recycled, certified Ocean-Bound Plastics (OBP) showcased the manufacturer’s use of traceability to verify that its sources in the Caribbean divert or recover the plastics from the ocean — a case for traceability to advance ocean health, ingredient and food system integrity.
Throughout the dinner, speakers highlighted the impact of supply chain transparency on sustainability:
Wally Stevens (Global Seafood Alliance) and Michelle Bellinger (Cape Fish) introduced the first course, a tuna tataki zucchini roll featuring Yellowfin tuna from Cape Fish in South Africa. The pair discussed the Global Seafood Alliance and Envisible’s certification sponsorship program, which enabled Cape Fish to become the first BSP certified provider of South African tuna and swordfish.
Wholechain’s traceability technology, a key component of the certification program, allows Cape Fish to trace its products from source to shelf and verify its compliance with the BSP certification requirements. The certification gives Cape Fish credibility in international markets, which supports the economic sustainability of the company, its surrounding communities and of its small scale and artisanal tuna and swordfish suppliers.
GSA and Envisible, along with the Environmental Defense Fund and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership are now applying the program to members of the Mexican Snapper and Grouper Supply Chain Roundtable in Yucatan, Mexico. SFP, EDF and members of the Yucatan government attended the dinner to discuss the program with buyers interested in the soon BSP-certified grouper and snapper from small scale fishers. GSA and Envisible look forward to further expanding the program to enable routes to market for small scale fishing communities around the world.
The aquaculture showcase: sustainably sourced ingredients from feed, to farm, to plate
Responsibly sourced aquaculture and aquaculture feed were key themes of the dinner. The paella main course starred ingredients from two of Aqua-Spark’s porfolio companies — xpertSea (Ecuadorian shrimp farmed using xpertSea’s on-farm AI technology) and Matorka (Arctic char farmed in Iceland) — and Regal Springs’ ACS and 3-star BAP tilapia, farmed in Indonesia.
Katie Sokalsky (xpertSea) and Lissy Smit (Aqua-Spark) emphasized the importance of investment in innovations advancing sustainable seafood and consumer education. Wholechain’s upcoming integration with xpertSea will improve transparency in farmed seafood supply chains, starting with Ecuadorian shrimp. Wholechain’s dynamic QR codes (shown on the menu) are designed to help companies simplify packaging and enhance consumer awareness and trust.
End-to-end traceability entails transparency across the whole supply chain, starting with the sources of feed ingredients. Soy, one of the largest protein sources of aquaculture feed, is also a main culprit of deforestation. Lisa van Wageningen of IDH highlighted IDH’s sustainable soy program, which is working with Wholechain to verify deforesation and conversion free sources of soy in Brazil.
Anthony Kingsley of Benson Hill, an aquafeed ingredient producer innovating on responsible soy farming using crop genetics, Gertjan de Koning of Veramaris, a producer of algae oil for aquafeed, and Henrik Aarestrup of BioMar, an aquafeed company focused on sustainable sourcing, placed emphasis on the importance of ingredient transparency for ocean and forest health, ingredient quality and nutrition.
Continuing partnerships and innovations for ocean action at UNGA 78
The next dinner in the series will take place during UNGA 78 in New York City this September. Interested in joining us? Please fill out this interest form.
Thanks again to everyone who made the dinner possible:
Hosts: The UN Global Compact Ocean Stewardship Council and Accelerator Network, GSA, IDH and Envisible
Sponsors: Benson Hill, Veramaris, Aqua-Spark, xpertSea, Environmental Defense Fund, and Wholechain
Suppliers: Regal Springs, Matorka, xpertSea and Cape Fish
Venue: The Barcelona Aquarium
Catering team: ASPIC
Audiovisual team: Cuemusic