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Strengthening Traceability to Achieve Indonesia’s 30% Marine Conservation Target by 2045

Executive Summary

  • 60% — that’s how much the global seafood profit could grow (from an estimated USD 76 billion) if traceability were implemented across all doable species and regions (Planet Tracker, 2022).

  • The integrity of the global seafood supply chain is undermined by the dominance of Small-Scale Fishers (SSF) in major exporting nations and the continued reliance on fragmented, non-interoperable digital systems. This results in significant data gaps and unreliability, as 76% of reported tuna e-logbook entries were discarded after cleaning and verification (AACL Bioflux, 2024).

  • Our flagship platform, KoltiTrace, resolves the transparency crisis by creating a unified, GDST Compliant (Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability) digital ecosystem that covers aquaculture and is developing towards wild capture fisheries. This platform ensures immediate capture of GDST Key Data Elements (KDEs), Sea-to-Table Transactional Traceability and integrates compliance services to verify sustainability claims at the source.

  • To align our initiatives with the national discourse, Koltiva will join the Ocean Innovation Challenge (OIC) Workshop (27-29 October 2025), organized by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to join the discussion with the aim to align the technical and regulatory frameworks between KoltiTrace's data integrity with Indonesia’s national “30x45” target, which aims to protect 97.5 million or 30 percent of Indonesia’s sea by 2045. This alignment will strengthen MPA effectiveness, advance marine conservation efforts, combat IUU fishing, and secure long-term market access for compliant businesses.


Table of Contents

Introduction

Global seafood production continues to surge with the growing population. It has become the most-traded animal protein globally and has experienced a 123% surge since 1990, reaching a valuation of over USD 470 billion (FAIRR, 2024). While aquaculture is projected to supply most future demand, wild-capture fisheries remain the dominant source today, especially in developing countries where millions of small-scale fishers depend on it for their livelihoods.


However, this heavy dependence on wild-capture fisheries also poses significant sustainability challenges. The sector is closely linked to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, making seafood one of the most illegally produced commodities in the world. In addition, persistent barriers in transparency and complex traceability continue to challenge suppliers, businesses, and countries from achieving sustainable fisheries supply chain goals, while at the same time complicating and disrupting marine conservation and the protection of vulnerable areas, including Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).


Indonesia, known as the home of Coral Triangle, is one of the most biodiverse countries on earth that ironically also faces this crisis the most. To safeguard this natural heritage, the government has recently established the national Marine Protected Areas-Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (MPA-OECM) Committee to achieve the national “30x45” target following the global commitments of “30x30” target, aiming to protect 97.5 million or 30 percent of Indonesia’s sea by 2045 (The Nature Conservancy, 2025). Achieving this target remains challenging due to existing gaps in effective management, traceability, and integration with the existing fisheries' governance.


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Ensuring Sustainable Seafood Production and Marine Conservation for the Generations to Come


As the world's seafood supply increasingly comes from aquaculture, this rapid growth presents a critical point for ensuring that future generations can still access reliable, sustainable seafood. Aquaculture can stabilize supply and reduce pressure on wild stocks. Yet, it also comes with drawbacks, such as data silos between farms and hatcheries, uneven reporting of environmental performance, and limited insight into water and feed sourcing. At the same time, the artificial distinction between farmed production (aquaculture) and wild-capture fisheries is becoming a liability, as both converge within the same supply chains.  Shared intermediaries, processing facilities, and export systems mean uniform data gathering and verification are critical to preventing the depletion of marine stocks. Yet, most traceability systems continue to handle them as distinct domains, capturing compliance at the end of the chain instead of establishing integrity from the very beginning. This fragmentation undermines resource stewardship and the crucial goal of avoiding sensitive ecological areas, including MPAs.  Integrating all data points without exception, guaranteeing source-to-customer integrity, is becoming essential more than ever. Strengthening traceability, even with only 1% improvement, is estimated that  global supply chain value could raise up to 60% (Planet Tracker, 2022). Ultimately, achieving transparency, accountability, and long-term resource stewardship holds the foundation of seafood security for the generations to come.

 

Uncovering the Crisis in Seafood Traceability

The realization of a critical, interoperable traceability ecosystem is the fundamental prerequisite for marine conservation and verified sustainability. To transition from providing seafood to guaranteeing traceable, sustainable, and equitable systems, three structural barriers continue to undermine the overall interoperable traceability:


1.    Unavailability of First-mile Data

From harvest or capture to landing and initial sale, the first mile continues to be a vital blind spot in many supply chains. This challenge is rooted in the demographic reality of key seafood-producing emerging economies: the majority of global fishing efforts are executed by small-scale fishers (SSF). Countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and Chile, which are among the world's largest seafood producers and major exporters to regulated markets, are dominated by SSF fleets. Small-scale fishers (SSF), who make up 90% of the global fishing workforce and contribute 40% of supply (FAO, 2024), often operate informally in remote areas without access to digital tools. This makes it difficult to record catch data, leaving them largely absent from official records. Due to limited capabilities and training opportunities that led to scattered fishing logbook documentation, the foundation of first-mile data and traceability systems are forced to rely on assumptions and gaps, which compromises the long-term effectiveness of marine conservation efforts and the integrity of MPAs.

 

2.    Digital Silos and Fragmented Data

The shift from manual paper logs to mandatory digital e-logbook system e.g. Indonesia’s e-PIT (Penangkapan Ikan Terukur) enables greater supply chain transparency and tracking, which is evidenced by 475% rise in reported vessel arrivals (Jurnal Ilmiah Perikanan dan Kelautan, 2025). However, this progress reveals a more complex challenge: fragmented, non-interoperable digital silos. Even as governments utilize their own e-logbook systems and update initiatives like the e-PIT volume III to strengthen fish data collection, these diverse platforms and industry systems often fail to communicate efficiently. This lack of interoperability forces administrative burden back onto suppliers who must manually reconcile data across various platforms, undermining efficiency. Furthermore, this fragmentation creates data unreliability, evidence by the fact that 76% of the reported tuna e-logbook data was discarded due to poor quality and inconsistencies following  rigorous cleaning and verification (AACL Bioflux, 2024). The solution lies in establishing seamless connectivity by leveraging API integration and GDST standards to allow all systems from government e-logbooks to processing software to communicate instantly, thus dramatically reducing administrative overhead and achieving the rigorous, timely verification required by global food safety standards like HACCP.


3.    Inadequate Verification Allows IUU products to enter the regulated market

When first-mile or logbook data is not systematically verified, illegally caught or misreported seafood (IUU) can easily enter formal supply chains. Recent estimates suggest that at least one out of five fish worldwide is caught illegally (Pew, 2023), indicating a significant portion of market-bound seafood may evade appropriate safeguards. A lack of verification methods, including comparing logbooks to vessel tracking or third-party audits, makes it possible for "data laundering”, where illegal goods are mixed with legitimate catch later in the supply chain. Without stronger verification of safeguards, which also necessitate improved traceability technology, the entire system remains vulnerable to compromise, failing to guarantee end-to-end integrity and allowing illegal products to undermine regulated markets.


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The Path to Verified Seafood: Achieving End-to-End Integrity with KoltiTrace

In response to the structural gaps identified, the modern seafood supply chain requires a scalable, integrated digital solution that ensures integrity from the source to the final product. This necessity is met by our KoltiTrace, which is engineered to build a single, interoperable supply chain ecosystem. By replacing manual records with a mobile-first application accessible to small-scale fishers, KoltiTrace also ensures foundational data is digitized, geo-tagged, and time-stamped at the source, immediately eliminating the "first-mile blind spot." Furthermore, Koltiva also recently achieved a major milestone in June 2025 by becoming a GDST (Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability) Compliant Technology Provider for aquaculture traceability, and the platform is actively being deployed for capture fisheries and is specifically focused on accelerating the implementation of these high standards across wild-capture supply chains that also meet the global standard.


KoltiTrace’s integrated solution framework is built on three pillars designed to strengthen traceability and compliance capabilities across the supply chain:


  • First-Mile GDST Key Data Elements (KDEs) Capture: The platform is being developed to enable the capture of GDST-required Key Data Elements (KDEs) from the point of origin (farm or vessel). This data, which includes geo-tagged, time-stamped capture locations, is critical not only for meeting global import rules and evolving buyer due diligence standards (such as SIMP, Japan Anti-IUU, and FSMA 204), but also for providing enforcement bodies with auditable evidence of activity relative to MPA boundaries.

  • Sea-to-Table Transactional Traceability: KoltiTrace provides a "Sea to Table" and "Pond to Plate" solution with information that makes data traceable and reproducible across the entire supply chain. It offers live transaction traceability for full visibility of product movement, enabling companies to track sales from independent smallholder fishers and producers, through collectors, initial processing steps, manufacturing activities that lead to the final end product, and potentially to the consumer plate.

  • Digital Extension and Compliance Services: Beyond core traceability, the platform integrates Agritech/Aqua Tech and Climatech features to drive sustainability, including producer profiling, geo-location mapping of vessel landings (i.e., when the vessels arrive at the port), and Supply Chain GHG Assessment for Scope 3 decarbonization that allows businesses to monitor and verify sustainability practices while achieving compliance.


Innovation to Action: Koltiva’s Participation at the Ocean Innovation Challenge Workshop

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While KoltiTrace provides the technical blueprint for verifiable and future-proof seafood supply chains, these digital solutions must be actively aligned with national regulatory mandates and multi-stakeholder roadmaps. Therefore, Koltiva will be joining the Ocean Innovation Challenge (OIC) Workshop (27-29 October 2025), organized in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Bali, to chart the roadmap for implementing scalable, sustainable conservation innovations in Indonesia's fisheries and marine protected areas. This year, the OIC Workshop is specifically designed to facilitate the shift from dialogue to practical implementation by focusing on two core challenges: improving MPA effectiveness and strengthening fisheries' governance.

Adhiet Utomo, Business Development Manager at Koltiva, who will represent the company at the event, notes "We view traceability not merely as a market requirement, but as the essential governance engine for marine conservation. By deploying verifiable, digital tools, we can finally turn the ambition of the 30×45 target into a monitored, measurable reality on the water".

By introducing its end-to-end platform, Koltiva's participation aims to enrich the discussion in establishing the technical and regulatory frameworks necessary to use data integrity to secure market access, combat IUU fishing, and transform fisheries governance for the long term, later aligned and supporting Indonesia’s national “30x45” target under MPA-OECM Vision 2045. Through multi-stakeholder collaboration with government, international organizations and NGOs, industry players, and the donor community, we can better define a unified roadmap for scalable initiatives that translate into verifiable conservation and governance outcomes.



Explore how Koltiva can transition your seafood business to a digital, verifiable system and ensure you remain at the forefront of these competitive global markets.

Author: Carlene Putri Darius, Marketing Communication

Editor: Daniel Agus Prasetyo, Head of Public Relations and Corporate Communications


About the author:

Carlene Putri Darius is a Marketing Communications Officer at KOLTIVA with passion in sustainability and innovation, Carlene Putri Darius integrates her expertise in technology, marketing, and strategy to promote responsible and inclusive growth. With over three years of experience in consulting, branding, and digital communications, she crafts narratives that connect innovation, sustainability, and social impact for international audiences.


Resources

  • AACL Bioflux (2024). Improving the accuracy of tuna fishery data using the fishing e-logbooks in FMA 573. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381631240_Improving_the_accuracy_of_tuna_fishery_data_using_the_fishing_e-logbooks_in_FMA_573

  • FAIRR. (2024). Tracing Risk and Opportunity: The Critical Need for Traceability in Today's Seafood Supply Chains. Seafood Traceability Engagement Phase 1 Progress Report – December 2024. https://files.worldwildlife.org/wwfcmsprod/files/Publication/file/755o7ir5wm_FAIRR_Seafood_Traceability_Engagement_Phase1_Progress_Report_2024.pdf 

  • FAO. (2024). The state of world fisheries and aquaculture 2024. The Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability. https://thegdst.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/The-State-of-World-Fisheries-and-Aquaculture-2024.pdf

  • Jurnal Ilmiah Perikanan dan Kelautan. (2025). Jurnal Ilmiah Perikanan dan Kelautan. https://e-journal.unair.ac.id/JIPK/article/download/69393/32763


 

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