Mangaluru: The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has launched a new digital catch certification and traceability system to help India’s seafood sector comply with amended European Union regulations.
Deputy director, MPEDA, Mangaluru, the EU has required catch certificates for wild-caught marine products since Jan 2010 as part of measures to prevent illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, according to Manoj Kumar TG. MPEDA, authorised by govt of India to validate these certificates, introduced online validation in 2010 and shifted to digital signature-based validation in April 2019, he stated.
MPEDA said it had enabled private agencies to develop applications for capturing primary traceability data. MPEDA said the dedicated digital platform would support a transparent and streamlined certification process, help exporters meet traceability requirements and safeguard continued access to the EU and UK markets. The data will be linked to the existing online catch certificate portal for validation.