Seafood supply chains are among the most opaque in the food system, making welfare and sustainability verification challenging. Improving traceability is essential for connecting consumer choices to production welfare outcomes.
Seafood welfare traceability faces structural challenges greater than those in most terrestrial food supply chains. Fish caught by small-scale fishers in developing countries pass through multiple intermediaries before reaching export markets; farm-raised fish from complex aquaculture systems may have limited individual tracking. The opacity that allows IUU fishing to enter supply chains also allows welfare-compromised production to be laundered into certified streams. Digital traceability systems — electronic catch certificates, blockchain verification, DNA testing — can improve transparency but require regulatory mandate rather than voluntary adoption to be comprehensive. Consumer demand for welfare-verified seafood is growing, but cannot be effectively realized without supply chain transparency that the industry has historically resisted.