supply chain

Pedro is a fisher from Chorrillos, a coastal area on the Southern outskirts of Lima in Peru. For Pedro, fishing is a lifestyle: his dad taught him how to fish at age 13, and he started fishing with his uncles at age 14, almost thirty years ago. He has made his living from the ocean ever since. Fishing for swordfish, mahi mahi, and other species up to one hundred miles from the coast, Pedro is intimately familiar with the ocean and ports across Lima Municipality.

Ever since she was a little girl, Patricia Purizaca accompanied her mother to work at the Máncora pier. Two years ago, when her mother got sick, Patricia decided to leave her job in the district municipality and start her own business, a small restaurant stand on the dock by that very same pier. This is where she greets fishermen returning from their long work at sea, fish handlers, and the occasional tourist who is interested in the reality of the people who make their living from the ocean.

Luis Solís, born and raised in the commune of Renca, is a tireless worker and champion for his community, dedicated to working with small scale producers and businesses to improve food supply chains and access to nutritious food for all Chileans. Over the course of his career in both the private and public sectors, he observed a lack of connection and organization between workers causing inefficiencies in the food supply system, as well as a growing concern over the declining nutrition, health, and wellbeing of his fellow Chileans. Luis’s passion for finding solutions to these two issues drive the work he does today.

In the last 10 years we’ve seen 25 of the top U.S. retailers make commitments to purchasing sustainable seafood. We’ve seen a lot less traction and follow-through. Leading companies could be doing a lot more to drive supply chains in the right direction.

The Seafood Expo North America offers the unique opportunity to meet and mingle with people from every possible facet of the seafood industry. We decided to take advantage of this convergence of players to ask four simple questions about what the industry looks like from the inside. Here's what we heard.

Exposés of deception and abuse in food supply chains have become disturbingly routine. Seafood is no exception. We need to rebuild the systems and behaviors of the global interconnected brokers, corporations and governments that touch your food before it hits your plate. Pulling that off will require better data.