UnionBank and WWF use blockchain to help local fishing communities 

The Streamr Network, which owns blockchain development firm Tomorrow Explored (TX), has partnered with international charity WWF and Filipino bank UnionBank to launch Tracey – an app which allows fishermen to track their catches.

The Tracey app, which can be used to store fishing data on the blockchain, will be made available to fishing communities in the Philippines, with the first pilot launching mid-2020.

WWF believes that the app will be instrumental in providing seasonal financial support to fishing communities and gathering important data on fisheries stocks.

Streamr will be providing the blockchain infrastructure for Tracey, including the underlying data transportation layer and real-time data flows – which will allow fishermen to cut out intermediaries.

Fish stocks and other valuable data will be tracked and stored on Core, Streamr’s data toolkit, which can show high-resolution data for a specific location.

Access to financial products

It is hoped that the app will provide an easier route to much-needed finance for rural fishing communities, many of whom currently lack access to banking infrastructure and struggle to prove how much fish they catch.

Susan Roxas, fisheries and finance lead for WWF, explained:

“Small fishers in many coastal countries remain poor, despite the high-value fish they catch, like yellowfin tuna. The innovative and disruptive collaboration between WWF, TX, and UnionBank will mean fisherfolk will get remunerated for the catch data they provide.”

Once a fisherman uploads details of their catch, they can sell their data to interested parties or use it to access micro-finance based on performance.

UnionBank will be the first financial institution to process the data for credit assessments and provide bridging loans to the fishermen.

Environmental protection

WWF also predicts that adding traceability on the blockchain for commercial fishing will provide verifiable traceability data for caught fish.

This data can then be used by both local governments and non-governmental organisations to make management decisions, perform research, and offer supply chain traceability for consumers.

Explaining how this data could be used for environmental benefit, Roxas says:

“This then creates possibilities for a more equitable distribution of supply chain benefits, through measures that prevent illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and ensures sustainable production.”

To find out more about how blockchain can be used for supply chain tracking, read here.