Tightening Seafood Regulations: What Supply Chain Actors Should Do Now in a USD 195 Billion Seafood Industry

Editor’s Note:

Global seafood supply chains are undergoing rapid transformation as governments, investors, and buyers demand greater transparency into how seafood products are sourced and traded. This article examines how tightening regulatory frameworks, growing investor scrutiny, and emerging digital technologies are reshaping traceability expectations across the USD 195 billion global seafood trade, with expert highlights from Furqonuddin Ramdhani, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Koltiva. It highlights key regulatory developments, evolving financial governance trends, and the role of interoperable digital systems in strengthening supply chain visibility from first-mile production to global markets.

Executive Summary

• Traceability gaps are emerging as a strategic risk across a USD 195 billion global seafood trade. With global fisheries and aquaculture production reaching over 223 million tonnes annually, tightening regulations and growing investor scrutiny are exposing weaknesses in how seafood products are tracked across increasingly complex supply chains (FAO, 2024).

• Investors are treating traceability as a material risk management issue. In 2025, 45 institutional investors managing USD 9.6 trillion in assets engaged with seven major seafood companies with a combined market capitalization of USD 146 billion, urging stronger traceability commitments to address risks associated with illegal fishing, biodiversity loss, and human rights concerns (FAIRR, 2026).

• Digital traceability and interoperable standards are emerging as operational solutions. Technologies aligned with frameworks such as the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) allow companies to capture standardized supply chain data, improve interoperability across platforms, and strengthen visibility from first-mile production to global markets.

Table of Contents

• Why Seafood Traceability Is at a Turning Point 

  - Regulatory pressure is increasing

  - Investors are treating traceability as risk management

• Digital Traceability as the Operational Solution

• The Future of Seafood Governance

• Key Actions for Seafood Supply Chain Actors

Why Seafood Traceability Is at a Turning Point

Global seafood supply chains are entering a period of profound transformation. Governments, investors, and consumers are demanding stronger transparency into how seafood products are harvested, processed, traded, and distributed across international markets. These demands are reshaping regulatory frameworks and pushing companies to adopt traceability systems capable of verifying supply chain data across multiple stages of production.

The economic scale of the sector makes this shift particularly significant. Global seafood trade exceeded USD 195 billion in 2022, making it one of the most valuable internationally traded food commodities in the world. At the same time, global aquaculture and fisheries production exceeded 223 million tonnes, supplying more than 20 kilograms of seafood per person annually (FAO, 2024). Together, these figures illustrate the immense scale and complexity of seafood supply chains that span thousands of actors, from fishing vessels and aquaculture farms to processors, exporters, distributors, and retailers across global markets. 

[Figure 1: Seafood in shipping process]

With seafood supply chains expand across continents and involve multiple intermediaries, maintaining transparency across these networks has become increasingly complex. Products may pass through fishing vessels or aquaculture farms, landing sites, processors, exporters, distributors, and retailers before reaching consumers.

This complexity creates significant traceability challenges. While many seafood companies have made public commitments to improve supply chain transparency, implementation remains uneven. Weak traceability systems can obscure product origins, complicate food safety responses, and allow illegal or unethical practices to persist within the global seafood trade.

In this context, traceability is rapidly emerging as a strategic infrastructure for global seafood trade, as tightening regulations and growing investor scrutiny expose the risks associated with opaque supply chains. Across the seafood industry, companies are beginning to explore digital traceability infrastructure capable of capturing standardized supply chain data and verifying product origins across complex global trade networks.

Why the Traceability Gap is Becoming a Strategic Risk

Regulatory pressure is increasing

Across major markets, regulatory frameworks are increasingly converging around a common objective, in which seafood products must be traceable throughout the supply chain using verifiable and standardized data.

In the United States, the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) requires importers to report harvest event data and maintain chain-of-custody records for certain seafood species. The program aims to prevent illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing products from entering the U.S. markets (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2025). On the other hand, the country is also strengthening traceability requirements through the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Rule 204 to become mandatory in 2028. This rule requires companies to record additional traceability data at specific supply chain events in order to enable faster responses to food safety incidents and product recalls (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2025).

Meanwhile, starting 10 January 2026, the European Union has implemented a mandatory digital catch certification system requiring all fishery products entering the EU market to be accompanied by a fully electronic catch certificate under EU Fisheries Control Regulation. Implemented through the CATCH platform, this system replaces paper-based documentation and enables the submission, validation, and exchange of catch data between exporters, importers, and control authorities. By standardizing and digitizing catch certification processes, the system aims to strengthen oversight, improve traceability, and combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing across global seafood supply chains (European Commission, 2026).

In Asia, seafood-producing countries are also strengthening their national traceability frameworks. Indonesia, one of the world’s largest seafood exporters,  has taken a notable step toward strengthening national seafood by developing STELINA (Sistem Ketertelusuran dan Logistik Ikan Nasional), a government-operated system compatible with the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) standard. This recognition makes Indonesia the first country to align a national traceability platform with internationally recognized seafood traceability standards. Beyond domestic implementation, Indonesia is also promoting STELINA through regional capacity-building initiatives with partners such as SEAFDEC and JICA to support broader adoption of standardized traceability practices across Southeast Asia (Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, 2025).

Although these regulations originate from different jurisdictions, they reveal an emerging global regulatory convergence around traceability and verifiable supply chain data. Each requires companies to document supply chain events, maintain verifiable data records, and demonstrate the ability to trace seafood products back to their origin. Taken together, these regulatory developments indicate an emerging global convergence toward mandatory traceability, where companies must maintain verifiable supply chain data across multiple jurisdictions. As regulatory pressure intensifies, financial stakeholders are increasingly viewing traceability as a critical component of risk management.

Investors Are Reframing Traceability as Risk Management

Beyond regulatory pressure, investor scrutiny is emerging as another major driver pushing seafood companies to strengthen traceability systems. Financial institutions increasingly recognize that opaque seafood supply chains can expose companies to environmental, regulatory, and reputational risks.

In 2025, the investor network FAIRR coordinated an engagement initiative supported by 45 institutional investors, targeting seven publicly listed seafood companies e.g. Charoen Pokphand Foods PCL, Thai Union Group PCL, and others, with a combined market capitalization of around USD 146 billion, highlighting the financial significance of traceability risks within the sector. With 29 investors participating in the dialogue, 86 percent of the targeted firms entered into discussions to strengthen supply chain transparency and traceability practices (FAIRR, 2026).

For investors, traceability systems provide a practical way to assess how seafood products move through global supply chains. Greater visibility into harvest locations, supply chain actors, and sourcing practices enables companies and their investors to more effectively assess risks related to illegal fishing, biodiversity loss, and human rights concerns. Strong traceability infrastructure can therefore reduce exposure to regulatory penalties, supply chain disruptions, and reputational damage.

Traceability is also becoming integrated into financial governance and sustainability disclosure frameworks. Newly launched initiatives in 2025, such as the International Finance Corporation’s Guidelines for Blue Finance Version 2.0, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and the Science Based Targets Network Ocean Hub, increasingly recognize traceability as an important component of supply chain risk management in fisheries and aquaculture.

Digital Traceability as the Operational Solution

[Figure 2: Koltiva technology offering full visibility of Key Data Elements (KDEs) during Critical Tracking Events (CTEs)]

As regulatory requirements tighten and investor scrutiny increases, seafood companies must move beyond high-level traceability commitments and implement operational systems capable of delivering verifiable supply chain data. While certification schemes such as those developed by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) provide important sustainability benchmarks, they do not always ensure continuous visibility across complex seafood supply chains involving multiple actors, jurisdictions, and product transformations (FAIRR, 2026).

Since digital traceability platforms are increasingly emerging as a practical solution to address this gap, industry interoperability standards such as the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) play a key role in enabling these systems to function across fragmented seafood supply chains. GDST establishes common technical formats and data requirements that allow different traceability platforms to exchange information while maintaining standardized supply chain records. In late February 2026, four owners of seafood certification standards, including MSC and ASC, together with the Global Seafood Alliance and MarinTrust, partnering with GDST, signed a letter of support for the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), highlighting a shared commitment to advancing traceability, transparency, and alignment across the seafood sector.

This growing consensus highlights that interoperable digital traceability is no longer optional but a fundamental requirement for global seafood trade. As Huw Thomas, Executive Director of GDST emphasizes, “Standardized digital interoperable data exchange that enables traceability and transparency is being increasingly recognized as a pre-requisite to business. By embracing the GDST transformation journey and becoming GDST capable early on, Koltiva is at the forefront of this digital revolution.”

In practice, digital traceability providers are increasingly helping companies operationalize these standards in real supply chain environments. For example,  Koltiva’s KoltiTrace MIS platform supports aquaculture traceability by capturing first-mile supply chain data and enabling standardized data exchange aligned with GDST requirements, helping connect smallholder production systems with global traceability frameworks used by international buyers and regulators. Koltiva has been recognized as a GDST 1.2 first-mile capable traceability solution for aquaculture supply chains, demonstrating the ability to capture and transmit required traceability data across early production stages such as hatchery, farming, harvesting, processing, and shipping.

These implementation experiences were recently shared during a Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) industry webinar, where Furqonuddin Ramdhani, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Product-Technology Officer of Koltiva, presented the company’s journey as one of the first solution providers to integrate the GDST traceability driver into KoltiTrace and successfully pass the GDST capability test. The session highlighted system architecture, key data element (KDE) mapping, data synchronization mechanisms, and Koltiva’s experience using tool developed by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) to become GDST-capable.

[Figure 3: Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Koltiva, Furqonuddin Ramdani, speaking at GDST Webinar]

“Traceability should not function as a reporting exercise. It must operate as everyday infrastructure within seafood supply chains, enabling companies to manage risk, verify sourcing practices, and maintain market access. By capturing reliable data at the first mile and enabling interoperability across the supply chain, companies can transform traceability from a reporting obligation into a strategic tool for risk management and sustainable sourcing,” said Ramdhani.

Since 2018, Koltiva has also supported aquaculture initiatives through activities such as fisher mapping, traceability data collection, training, and access to financing mechanisms. These programs have contributed to the registration of more than 7,000 smallholder aquaculture farmers, over 500 tonnes of traceable seaweed production, and training for more than 200 smallholders, illustrating how digital traceability systems can be integrated with broader sustainability and supply chain development efforts.

The Future of Seafood Governance

As traceability requirements continue to expand across major seafood markets, transparency is becoming a defining feature of responsible seafood trade. Regulatory frameworks, investor expectations, and buyer due diligence requirements are increasingly converging around the need for verifiable supply chain data.

“It is increasingly becoming a strategic step for seafood companies to maintain market access and build trust with regulators, investors, and supply chain partners. As digital technologies continue to improve supply chain monitoring and data exchange, traceability will play a central role in shaping the future of global seafood governance,” said Ramdhani.

To prepare for this transition, seafood companies can take several practical steps to strengthen their traceability capabilities:

• Align traceability practices with emerging interoperability standards, such as the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), to ensure data can be shared across supply chain actors.

• Integrate traceability into risk management and sustainability strategies, enabling companies to monitor sourcing practices and address regulatory, environmental, and human rights risks.

• Adopt aquaculture traceability solutions such as KoltiTrace MIS which enables first-mile data capture, standardized KDE and CTE documentation, and interoperability with global traceability frameworks to strengthen transparency across aquaculture supply chains.

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To conclude, traceability is evolving from a compliance requirement into critical infrastructure for global seafood trade. Companies that adopt interoperable traceability systems early will be better positioned to manage supply chain risk, maintain market access, and build trust with regulators, investors, and partners.

Author: Carlene Putri Darius, Marketing Communications Officer at KOLTIVA

Subject Matter Experts: Furqonuddin Ramdhani, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of KOLTIVA; Huw Thomas, Executive Director of Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST)

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.

Furqonuddin Ramdhani is the CTO and Co-Founder of Koltiva with over 15 years of experience in Information Technology, playing a key role in establishing the company as a leading provider of ethical, transparent, and sustainable supply chain solutions through its integrated triple-tech approach (agritech, fintech, and climatech) across 60+ commodities in 90+ countries.

Huw Thomas is the Executive Director of the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), where he leads efforts to advance universally adopted digital traceability across global fisheries and aquaculture supply chains. He brings nearly 30 years of experience in the seafood industry, spanning roles in retail, processing, and international initiatives to combat illegal fishing. He is also the Founder of 3 Pillars Seafood, a consultancy established in 2020 to support responsible sourcing and supply chain transformation.

References

• European Commission. (2026, January 12). New digital certification system to tackle illegal fishing.https://oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu/news/new-digital-certification-system-tackle-illegal-fishing-2026-01-12_en

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2024). Global fisheries and aquaculture production reaches a new record high.https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/fao-report-global-fisheries-and-aquaculture-production-reaches-a-new-record-high/en

• Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia. (2025, November 15). KKP brings Indonesia to become the first country with a globally standardized traceability system.https://kkp.go.id/news/news-detail/kkp-bawa-indonesia-jadi-negara-pertama-dengan-sistem-ketertelusuran-berstandar-global-LZNj.html

• FAIRR Initiative. (2026). Traceability in seafood supply chains: An imperative for investors – Seafood traceability engagement phase 2 progress report.https://www.fairr.org

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2025). Seafood Import Monitoring Program.https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/international/international-affairs/seafood-import-monitoring-program

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2025). FSMA final rule on requirements for additional traceability records for certain foods (Food Traceability Rule).https://www.fda.gov/food/food-safety-modernization-act-fsma/fsma-final-rule-requirements-additional-traceability-records-certain-foods