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  1. Solutions to Overfishing

Coastal Fisheries Initiative - Challenge Fund
Global Knowledge Competition

Hypothetical Solutions

What we¡¯re looking for 

The following hypothetical proposals are a guide for competitors to develop the types of solutions this competition seeks to recognize and amplify. See evaluation criteria.   

Hypothetical Solutions that Do Align with the Competition Criteria

  • Local Fair Trade Like Model for Domestic Fish Supply Chains  
  • Community Fisheries Surveillance 

Hypothetical Solutions that Do Not Align with the Competition Criteria

  • Longline Tuna Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) 
  • Community Fisheries Behavior Change and Alternative Livelihood Initiative 

 

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  • Hypothetical solution that aligns with competition criteria  

    Local fair trade-like model for domestic fish supply chains  

    • Five fishing communities are linked with sustainability-conscious restaurants in large domestic cities. 
    • Restaurants make a commitment to source only from these communities and only according to seasonality and availability; these restaurants commit to paying 5 percent over market value to be reinvested into the communities and strategic developments including traceability systems, recruiting new restaurants and expanding to new communities. 
    • Restaurants commit to conducting a robust marketing campaign focused on sustainable, socially responsible, locally produced, and traceable seafood as a way of educating the consumer. 
    • To participate in the program, communities are required to establish committees to self-monitor fishing levels and products, to ensure commitment to enhancing quality of the product based on restaurant requirements and commit to only catching according to size recommendations, according to pre-specified quantities and within the open season. 
    • The program is initially kept small and controlled and verified by a local non-profit. As the program grows, a traceability system is included to ensure verification processes and compliance. 
    • Coalition participants: five fishing communities, restaurant association, local non-profit, and a traceability and technology company. 

    Why it aligns with competition criteria. 

    • Focused on coastal fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of one of the competition countries. 
    • By only allowing fish that meet a minimum size and in pre-specified quantities and by having this verified by a partner NGO, it focuses on restoring overfished stocks and addresses overfishing.? 
    • Focuses on the coordination of fishers and supply chain actors through market incentives. 
    • Engages the business community to provide a sustainable market mechanism (5 percent premium) to influence fishing amount and timing. 
    • Multiple organizations representing different stakeholder groups (fishing communities, businesses, and nonprofits) are involved in forming a diverse coalition that will view the issues and develop the solution from multiple different angles. 

     

  • Hypothetical solution that aligns with competition criteria

    Community fisheries surveillance team 

    • Local fishers form a community fisheries surveillance team, using fishing vessels and rudimentary equipment to monitor illegal fishing in a marine protected area (MPA) near the community.? 
    • Each fisher in the community fisheries surveillance team commits one day per month to monitor the MPA, including contributing fuel for this activity, and in exchange receives a quota from an overall Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the fishery and fishing rotation based on scientific advice from the government fisheries management authority in a fishing zone outside of MPA.? 
    • The local community fisheries surveillance team is connected with a government enforcement agency that supplies communication tools and supplies and responds to illegal fishing infractions. 
    • Government enforcement agency increases its ability to enforce and increases its collection of fines, with 20 percent of fines collected reinvested into the community to support community-based monitoring, value addition and tourism development. 
    • Local tourism companies with diving and eco-tourism licenses in the MPA benefit from enhanced monitoring and contribute funds to the community fisheries surveillance team to support fuel costs, equipment, and investments in value addition. 
    • Coalition participants: fishing community, MPA management team, local/regional government enforcement agency, government fisheries management authority, and local tourism companies. 

    Why it aligns with competition criteria. 

    • Focused on coastal fisheries in the EEZ of the relevant country. 
    • Includes a mechanism to coordinate fishers to control the amount and timing of fishing to address overfishing and avoid derby fishing through quota towards TAC and rotational fishing.? 
    • Includes a mechanism to enforce illegal fishing (community fisheries surveillance team) and a funding mechanism from government and tourism operators to sustain enforcement, TAC approach and invest in value addition.? 
    • Several key organizations representing three different key stakeholder groups (fishing communities, businesses and government) are involved in forming a diverse coalition 

  • Hypothetical solution that does not align with competition criteria

    Longline tuna fishery improvement project (FIP) 

    • A tuna processing company located in a coastal country with a vertically integrated supply chain develops a fishery improvement project (FIP) for longline tuna: it sources from a fishery in the high seas of the Pacific Ocean.? 
    • To collect data on fishing activity the company deploys e-logbook on the fishing vessel it owns and hosts the required percentage of human observers onboard according to Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMO) requirements. 
    • Company supports additional FIP activities including posting Endangered, Threatened and Protected (EOP) species identification posters on each longline vessel, and informs vessel captains on the project.? 
    • The tuna company updates its buyers in the United States and the European Union on the FIP and funds the e-logbook and other FIP activities.? 

    Why it does not align with competition criteria. 

    • Only conducting activities required by national government and RFMO regulations without additional strategies to support biological restoration of tuna fish stocks in the Pacific Ocean, some of which are considered overfished.? 
    • Addresses a fishery that is outside the EEZ of the country. 
    • Does not include a diverse set of stakeholders in a coalition or express interest in developing a coalition.? 
    • While it incorporates vessel captains, it does not include coordination of fishers or vessels from other companies in the fishery and no considerations for addressing overfishing or limiting fishing effort. 
    • Products from FIPs can receive preferential access to markets and may therefore increase the demand for tuna products originating from the company¡¯s vessels. 
    • The tuna company has no additional plans for coordinating with other supply chain actors¡¯ verification processes and compliance. 

     

  • Hypothetical solution that does not align with competition criteria 

    Community fisheries behavioral change and alternative livelihood initiative

    • An NGO and government agency support fishers to organize into cooperatives and village enterprises to coordinate fishing activity and improve the value of their fish product.? 
    • An NGO and government agency launch behavioral change campaigns to encourage fishers and communities to value its local fish resources and sustainably manage the local fishery that is already overfished.? 
    • The NGO provides financial literacy and business skills training to the cooperatives and connects with a local microfinance institution (MFI) that provides affordable loans so the cooperatives can invest in mini-cold storage equipment.? 
    • The NGO provides training, small grants and connections to MFIs to youth and women in the communities to pursue alternative livelihoods to increase household incomes and hopefully transition out of the fishery.? 
    • MFI and educational programs are primarily funded by the government, non-profit, and international donors and foundations. 

    Why it does not align with competition criteria.  

    • It does not include a sustainable market incentive or mechanism for coordinating the timing and amount of fishing activity and the proposed behavioral change relies on goodwill.?? 
    • Though it seeks to address overfishing, it does not include markets and the coordination of stakeholders in the supply chain, and it does not have a plan for addressing the rebuilding of biologically degraded stocks.? 
    • Alternative livelihood support does not address how to coordinate the fishing activity of those that continue to fish, which could increase the total fishing effort or remain constant at best.? 
    • Includes a financing mechanism for investing in fish product value addition through cold storage without coordinating the timing or amount of fishing, which could lead to more overfishing.
Solutions to Overfishing

Solutions to Overfishing

The Global Knowledge Competition invites coalitions or individual organizations to develop innovative solutions to reduce overfishing through increased coordination among fishers and collaboration across the seafood industry and value chain actors.

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