The world’s oceans are under threat from many challenges like overfishing, pollution, and climate change. New technologies like blockchain may offer solutions to some of these problems. Here’s how blockchain could potentially help protect the oceans:
- Tracking Illegal Fishing: Blockchain ledgers can create tamper-proof records of fish catches and help identify illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activity. Sensors on fishing boats linked to a blockchain network can transmit location data and info about catch amounts. This improves transparency and accountability in the seafood supply chain.
- Reducing Seafood Fraud: Up to 30% of seafood is mislabeled or fraudulent. Blockchain systems can securely track a fish from catch to plate, making it much harder to pass off cheaper fish as premium seafood like wild salmon. Scannable blockchain tags can give consumers assurances about provenance.
- Monitoring Pollution: Blockchain-enabled sensors could be deployed across oceans to monitor for pollution, oil spills, or waste dumping activity. Real-time data streamed to a blockchain ledger creates an unchangeable record of polluting events that could help hold companies and governments accountable.
- Funding Ocean Conservation: Cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based financial tools can allow broad global participation in funding ocean conservation projects. Non-profits can potentially use blockchain ledgers to show how donations are utilized, bringing more transparency to charity operations.
- Tracing Plastic Waste: Plastic waste choking the seas could potentially be better traced using blockchain tagging and tracking of plastic products and packaging. This can identify top sources of plastic trash and help reduce waste.
While blockchain alone cannot resolve all ocean threats, it can be a useful tool to enhance seafood traceability, detect illegal fishing, monitor waste and pollution, and empower consumers to support responsible companies through transactions recorded on an immutable ledger. With the health of our oceans at stake, exploring new technologies like blockchain is essential.