For countries around the Pacific and Oceanic regions, fishing and maritime presence are cornerstones of both national and local economies. ISO 22498, the latest standard for the industry sector is hoping to provide guidance for all.
With many regulations being imposed on an international level affecting the humble solo fishing operation, it is vital that all in the industry are on the same regulation page. An increasing awareness of the effects of overfishing and ocean pollution on maritime life has led to fast-changing legislation that all must abide by.
Organisations operating in the fishing industry are often under scrutiny for their catch but should today also be under scrutiny for their operations. With increasing environmental pressure concerning the sustainability of fishing; those in the fishing industry must work together to come up with lasting but fair operations. The International Organization for Standards (ISO) have recently release ISO 22948 – ‘Carbon footprint for seafood -Product category rules’; another piece of legislation aimed to regulate the overfishing and bring everyone under the same well-designed practices. The standard aims to calculate the carbon footprint of the catch, in order to evaluate the impact of the aquaculture value chains more accurately.
As with many digital regulations, standards or necessary manuals; organisations are adopting digital inspection solutions to complement such information. By marrying a paperless inspection solution and an industry legislation or guidance document, those in the fishing industry can manage their inspection, compliance and audit highly effectively. Utilising digital solutions not only improves their inspection efficiency thanks to new inspection tools, but it also means that all information is centralised in one digital place. New inspection tools include any that are part of the mobile device being used; in the case of a smartphone this can be a device camera to take pictures and scan barcodes. In the case of an iOS tablet this can be using a speech-to-text service to record data handsfree. What any mobile device will provide is accurate and fast data recording capabilities. With all the digital versions of regulations, standards such as ISO 22948 or necessary manuals in the palm of the inspector, any business operational check can be streamlined for high proficiency.
