Our blog has been silent for the last few months despite our team continuing to work on getting our blockchain-enabled traceability platform ready for the market.
Here are some highlights.


July

Developing Fiji’s Blockchain Developers

TraSeable - USP IEP Team

TraSeable IEP Team at USP L-R: Siddhant Anand, Geeta Singh, Mohammed Moishin, and TraSeable Founder Kenneth Katafono


TraSeable is sponsoring a Future of Fisheries project in USP‘s IEP programme this semester where the goal of the project is build a decentralised application (dApp) on the Ethereum blockchain that can complement TraSeable’s seafood traceability platform.  Expecting a future demand for blockchain developers in the Pacific, TraSeable is helping to develop the first generation of Fijian blockchain developers.
A team of 3 final year Bachelor of Software Engineering students (Siddhant Anand, Geeta Singh, and Mohammed Moishin) were assigned to the project following a pitch from TraSeable Founder Ken.

Meeting Fiji’s Ministry of Fisheries

We had our first formal meeting with the Ministry of Fisheries including the Director of Fisheries, Mr. Aisake Batibasaga, and senior fisheries officials together with industry representative, Mr. Anare Raiwalui.  We gave an update on our seafood traceability efforts including how we hoped to help the Industry streamline certain manual processes including permit processing and vessel notifications.  It was also an opportunity to provide a brief overview of blockchain technology and how we are using it.  There was general agreement to look at opportunities to work more closely with the Ministry and all stakeholders including for the possibility of an initial trial of some features of our platform.
This was a timely meeting noting that the Fijian Government recently agreed to accede to the FAO Port State Measures Agreement and that we are starting the next phase of work with the WWF to get fully blockchain traceable fish to an international retail market.


June

Meeting Samoa Fisheries

TraSeable presenting to the Samoan Fisheries Division

TraSeable presenting to the Samoan Fisheries Division


While in Apia, Samoa we took the opportunity to present our traceability platform to the Samoan Fisheries Division.  We had interesting discussions on using the same concept for value-adding to seafood and agricultural products from communities that could potentially fetch a greater value for their products by being able to tell the stories of those products through the supply chain.

We join the ConsenSys Academy Developer Program

Founder Ken applied successfully for a scholarship to join the highly sought-after ConsenSys Academy 2018 Developer Program which is an 11 week “end-to-end Ethereum developer course” and is delivered fully online.  He becomes one of the first people in the Pacific to be part of the program which is only being run for the second year with close to 1,000 participants from around the world.
Read more on the ConsenSys Academy Developer Program


May

Engaging Fiji Fisheries Stakeholders


We hosted a successful event with stakeholders from the Ministry of Fisheries and Industry where several fishing companies joined us to hear about our traceability platform and how we aim to improve some of the challenges they currently have when doing business.

Presentations

We were invited to speak at various events:

  1. CTA Regional Forum on Novel ICT Applications for Pacific Agrifood and Nutritious Systems – we presented on Realising Greater Transparency and New Value in Fisheries Value Chains through Blockchain Technology.  Regional Forum report available here.
  2. World Tuna Day at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat – we spoke on the application of blockchain technology for tuna traceability and our experiences in Fiji
  3. USP Guest Lecture – we presented on Innovation and Entrepreneurship to students taking CS001: Foundations of Professional Practice
  4. Vodafone Fiji – we were invited to speak to staff of Vodafone Fiji on blockchain technology and our use of it in our traceability platform.

April

Regional Blockchain TechCamp

Participants of the Regional Blockchain TechCamp in Suva, Fiji

Participants of the Regional Blockchain TechCamp in Suva, Fiji


Together with the US Embassy in Fiji, the Fiji Blockchain Community, and USP, we hosted a successful Regional Blockchain TechCamp with 52 participants from over 8 Pacific Island countries.  We were fortunate to have international speakers in person from ConsenSys, Power Ledger, WWF, and OxFam together with remote presentations from Horizon State, Everledger, and Cleantech21.
Visit our TechCamp event page.