The Indonesian Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Susi Pudjiastuti, met with software and traceability provider Traceall Global in mid April as part of a visit programme to Scotland to launch a project that aims to reduce illegal fishing, which is costing Indonesia $20bn a year.
Illegal fishing in Indonesian waters is a huge issue for the government’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF). Although currently capturing 1.5 tonnes of illegal fish annually it faces difficulties in tracking vessels around the country’s islands and archipelagos. As part of her visit, the minister signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work with Glasgow based Traceall Global to carry out an initial pilot project aimed at reducing illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU). The aim of the full rollout of Traceall Global’s FishTrace Technology will be to use advanced monitoring and traceability technology to eliminate IUU completely.
Traceall Global will work with the Indonesian Government to develop an electronic fisheries management logbook, eliminating the existing paper based logging process moving all data capture to 24-hour real time systems. The new systems will be implemented on all Indonesian fishing vessels to support the tracking and traceability of their fishing catch and achieve the Indonesian Government’s objective of stopping illegal fishing.
Indonesian Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Susi Pudjiastuti, said: “Illegal fishing is a massive issue in Indonesia which is currently costing the Indonesian economy $20bn each year. In order to protect the depleted stocks in Indonesian waters, we have been destroying the illegal fishing vessels, however this is not something we can sustain. The traceability software we are using via Traceall Global will help us eliminate IUU and provide full traceability throughout our supply chain.”
Traceall Global CEO Alan Steele said: “Since seeing my own local fishing community in Scotland deplete 30 years ago, it has been my passion to put fish back in our oceans. To achieve this we have been working with partners around the world, combatting IUU, slavery and unsustainable overfishing.
The Indonesian Government met with Traceall Global for the MOU signing in Glasgow on Thursday 21 April. To support the implementation of the Traceall Global traceability system in Indonesia the business will initially be employing two Indonesian business students to work with the team from their headquarters in Glasgow with the aim of growing the team significantly as the project rolls out.
This week Bali Seafoods has also signed a MOU with Traceall Global to install its traceability software into four processing plants that are in development in Indonesia. This will be one of the first fully integrated traceability systems in Indonesia reflecting the Governments regulations on IUU.
In Europe Traceall Global has previously worked with the EU Government to develop the European Commission laws on Food Traceability. It has also helped the UK Government (DEFRA) create electronic traceability standards for the UK fishing industry, to eliminate illegal fishing and over-fishing, which resulted in a 100% reduction.
