Our panel of international experts explores how small-scale fisheries build community resilience, reduce air and water pollution, maximize efficiencies, and increase biodiversity while promoting equity and public health.
How do fisheries and aquaculture contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?
by Audun LemWhat does 'a better fisheries' for the future look like?
by Nicole FranzOcean: do fisheries make it or break it?
by Michele ChoDoes the seafood we eat have impacts on our climate?
by Rod FujitaWhat happens when fisher people and policymakers sit around a table?
by Seamus Bonner, Duncan LeadbitterHow do we ensure fisheries products are transparent and traceable?
by Alistair DouglasHow can we ensure equitable market benefits across communities?
by Ingrid Kelling, Mark KaplanWhat’s the role of women in fisheries?
by Editrudith LukangaOur panel of international experts explores how small-scale fisheries build community resilience, reduce air and water pollution, maximize efficiencies, and increase biodiversity while promoting equity and public health.
Introduction
20–32% by weight of wild-caught seafood imported to the USA in 2011 was illegal and unreported catches. These illegal imports are valued at between $1.3 and $2.1 billion, out of a total of $16.5 billion for the 2.3 million tonnes of edible seafood imports, including farmed products. This trade represents between 4% and 16% of the value of the global illegal fish catch and reveals the unintentional role of the USA, one of the largest seafood markets in the world, in funding the profits of illegal fishing. Supply chain case studies are presented for tuna, wild shrimp, and Chinese re-processed Russian pollock, salmon and crab imported to the USA.
Deputy Director of the Fisheries Division
FAO
There are 17 different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and all are relevant to fisheries and aquaculture. Our sector contributes to the SDGs in many different ways: economic development, elimination of hunger, caring for the environment, labor and human rights, and of course SDG 14: Life below water.
Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture are necessary to save the planet and humanity, but they also comprise a very important economic sector that provides livelihoods, nutritional value, and healthy diets.
For fisheries, the emphasis lies in ending illegal fishing, maintaining healthy states of fish stocks, and creating economic benefits. Aquaculture contributes by increasing food security and creating additional economic benefits. The role of both aquaculture and capture fisheries will be even bigger in the future, which sees a growing population and an increasing demand for healthy diets. Most of the increase will come from aquaculture.
Efforts and practices implemented to reduce or offset the industry's contribution to climate change. These efforts can include adopting sustainable farming techniques, optimizing energy use, promoting carbon sequestration through seaweed cultivation, minimizing greenhouse gas emissions, and implementing strategies to adapt to the changing climate conditions for long-term sustainability of aquaculture operations.
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Equitable Livelihoods Team Lead, Fisheries and Aquaculture Division
FAO
Better fisheries equal more sustainable fisheries. In the past, sustainability indicators related primarily to the status of fish stocks. The fraction of assessed fishery stocks that was within the biologically sustainable levels was 64.6% in 2019.
In terms of landed volume, biologically sustainable stocks accounted for 82.5% of the total. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have established important targets for marine fish stocks under SDG 14 to further increase this share. Obviously, it is equally important to take similar measures for the sustainable use of inland fishery resources.
Importantly, and in line with the interlinked nature of the SDGs, environmental sustainability is only one part of the equation. To be truly sustainable, fisheries also need to be grounded in socio-economic and governance sustainability.
This comprehensive understanding is reflected in the FAO’s Blue Transformation roadmap, which recognizes the importance of aquatic food systems as drivers of employment, economic growth, social development, and environmental recovery, all of which underline the SDGs. Blue Transformation acknowledges that aquatic food systems significantly influence human, animal, and ecosystem health, including biodiversity, climate, land and water use, as well as other aquatic and land-based economic sectors.
Better fisheries, therefore, require a holistic and adaptive ecosystem approach. By aiming to secure sustainable aquatic food systems in a social, environmental, and economic matter. The livelihood of individuals will be fostered with an equitable distribution of benefits and support the adequate use and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems.
In this context, securing sustainable small-scale fisheries is vital, as they provide at least 40% of the global catch and support in part the livelihood of almost 500 million people.
By continuing to implement the voluntary guidelines to secure Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the context of food security and poverty eradication, there is a pathway to promote transformative changes in how, by whom, and for whom fish and fishery products are produced, processed and distributed.
A small-scale fisher is an individual or a group engaged in fishing activities on a small scale, typically using traditional or artisanal methods. They often operate with limited resources, smaller vessels, and fishing grounds near the coast and play an important role in coastal communities and local fish supply.
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There are many different methods for catching fish, some more environmentally responsible than others. Handlines are a way to catch fish, such as tuna, that limit bycatch and do not impact sensitive seafloor environments. Handlines are weighted fishing lines with a baited hook that are usually hauled in hand-over-hand.
Annual catch limits in U.S. fisheries are set using a multistep process. First, scientists calculate the maximum sustainable yield, which is the largest long-term average catch that can be taken while still maintaining the population size under current conditions.
Associate Director, Blue Innovation
New England Aquarium
Responsible fisheries are an important part of keeping our oceans and planet healthy. Our interest is in ensuring a responsible and balanced use of healthy oceans by thriving coastal communities. One way to do this is to recognize and reward sectors or individuals in the marketplace that follow important protocols, including:
These approaches can further encourage and inspire others to think in a similar responsible, innovative, and forward manner. Whether happening on a large, industrial scale, or on a small scale, it is important to provide all of these proactive players with the opportunity for recognition and access to markets.
Maintaining a harmonious and sustainable relationship between aquaculture activities and the surrounding ecosystem. Achieving balance involves minimizing negative impacts such as pollution, habitat degradation, and biodiversity loss, while promoting positive interactions that support the health and functioning of the ecosystem as a whole.
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Associate Vice President, Research & Development, Lead Senior Scientist II
EDF
Does the seafood we eat have impacts on our climate?
Fisheries emit relatively small amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that cause climate change in comparison to animal husbandry on land. However, certain types of fishing are carbon-intensive. Their carbon footprint could be reduced by switching to lower-carbon fuels and by optimizing travel speeds. Fisheries can also sometimes disrupt bottom sediments that store carbon, causing some of it to re-enter the atmosphere and contribute to climate change.
Fisheries and the seafood you choose to eat can be part of the solution. Species that are lower in the ocean’s food chain like sardines, anchovies, and shellfish have a particularly small carbon footprint, and eating them directly is a very efficient way to use ocean resources. These species are also rich in healthy micronutrients like zinc, calcium, and omega-3 fatty acids. Fish probably play an important role in the ocean’s “biological pump” which draws down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequesters it in the deep ocean.
First, the carbon dioxide is taken up by phytoplankton at the surface — some of which sinks into deep water where the carbon can be stored for centuries. This process is accelerated when the phytoplankton are eaten by zooplankton, whose bodies and fecal pellets sink and carry more carbon to deep waters.
Fish may be accelerating this pump even more by eating the zooplankton, resulting in larger fecal pellets that sink even faster; the bodies of some fish may also reach deep water after death, resulting in more carbon sequestration. Thus, sustainably managed fisheries that support larger populations of fish in the water might result in increased carbon sequestration. Moreover, many fishers play important roles in protecting ecosystems like mangrove forests, salt marshes, and seagrass meadows, which are sequestering carbon while also supporting biodiversity, its livelihood, and the resilience of coastal communities to climate change.
The environmental impact and resource utilization associated with the capture and harvest of wild fish. It includes factors such as fuel consumption, habitat destruction, bycatch of non-target species, and overfishing.
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Over the last few decades, the co-management of fisheries, a decision-making structure where government and resource users (fishers) have a voice and work together to define regulations that become common practice around the world. Despite the prominence, the principles of co-management still vary drastically from fishery, to fishery with a diversity of shared power levels between government and other stakeholders.
Secretary
IIMRO
Fishery co-management is typically an area-based adaptive management system that brings together the expertise of fishers, scientists, and fishery managers. Where they all play an active role in decision-making and the management of the fishery. Each stakeholder brings their unique perspective and knowledge to the management decision-making table. This collaborative approach can result in improved outcomes for management of the fishery resource, environmental protection, economic dividends, and the preservation of the unique language, culture, and heritage of fishing communities.
Participants work together in a partnership approach to identify common goals and develop mutually agreed strategies for managing the fishery. This co-responsible process increases buy-in for all stakeholders and is more likely to lead to improvement in fishery management than prescriptive, centralized, top-down mechanisms. The traditional ecological knowledge and experience of fishers, which is the complementation of natural and social sciences along with adaptive management expertise, leads to more sustainable use of resources and improves the livelihoods and well-being of fishing communities.
Co-management is an ongoing iterative and collaborative process that needs to have an appropriate legal framework and set of resources to enable the active participation of individuals. Genuine co-management should include the return of both power and responsibility from central authorities to stakeholders, who are equal partners in the management of the fishery. When fishers and policymakers work collectively, trust, communication, and hence, a relationship is built between stakeholders.
An enhanced sense of co-responsibility encourages healthier fishing practices, awareness of socioeconomic and ecological constraints, and fewer conflicts in the fisheries. Data quality is improved for management decision-making and transparency in how decisions are made, which leads to improved compliance, as each stakeholder has a higher responsibility in making the management of the fishery a success. In situations with socioeconomic and ecological constraints, co-management, while not a panacea, has the potential to represent an excellent delivery mechanism for sustainable low-impact fisheries worldwide.
Director
Fish Matter
Co-management is a governance approach to managing fisheries whereby government regulators, fishery resource users, independent advisors (e.g. scientists, NGOs), and those those who depend on buying/selling fish all share the responsibility of controlling catches. By working in a collaborative way, all of those with an interest in the long-term viability of the fishery can contribute information and solutions. Resource users get to own the issues and the solutions, and this process develops a stronger commitment to respecting the rules, ultimately helping to reduce illegal activity. Government managers and scientists have enhanced access to local knowledge. The degree of collaboration can vary with certain co-management systems that still retain a strong role for government, but others delegate considerable autonomy to resource users.
Co-management can be practiced within fisheries of any scale. The central principle of getting people together to seek agreement on sustainable use is what defines co-management. There needs to be a mix of interests such that short-term pressures do not result in unsustainable use. Co-management can take a while to implement, as it may take time for the various parties to develop an atmosphere of trust, especially if unsustainable fishing is taking place and cuts to catches have to be made.
A level of organization and economic development of a separate regional space that ensures the physical and economic accessibility of food products necessary for an active and healthy lifestyle of the population of the region.
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Founder, Partner
Eachmile Technologies
It is not so much about ensuring traceability: you either have data or you don’t, so it is more about ensuring that the data you have is accurate. However, to ensure that the traceability data elements are accurate, verification is required, and oftentimes at the various critical tracking events between stakeholders.
Data can be accurate/precise, inaccurate/imprecise, or incorrect/false. With over 12,000 species of seafood, and many common names for the same species, the genus may be correct, but the species or subspecies are incorrect (inaccurate). It could be the wrong genus or family (incorrect), and if the species name, and other data elements, have purposefully been entered incorrectly (false), it is illegal.
To verify a species, a DNA check is required, and, although advances in technology are making it more efficient, there are other factors that come into play. For example, the time it takes, the monetary expenses (which are usually high), and the risk of mixing “many to one” seafood products (such as a box of shrimp), all still exist as challenges. Machine vision is assisting in species identification, but there are barriers to adoption, and once a fish has been processed, species identification becomes more difficult.
Although verification technologies such as long-range vessel tracking and identification, microchemistry, isotopes, etc. are all helping reduce the noose on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and product. There are still many issues around mislabeling, disinformation, and fraud in which their application is mostly used for risk-based assessments and audits.
Immutable records via the use of blockchain technologies and tokens such as Fishcoin can help build trust in the veracity of the data between stakeholders and incentivize data collection. These technologies, along with the potential to monetize the stories behind the seafood on behalf of the fishers and farmers, will help us transition to more transparency and from fragmented to cooperative, coordinated, and collaborative value chains.
Assurance mechanism providing real time observation and monitoring of farming location and practices, current status and impact dynamics within and outside farms using sensors, artificial intelligence and machine learning visibility tools.
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Assistant Professor of Sustainable and Ethical Seafood Supply
Heriot-Watt University
Partner
(e)nvisible
Equitable market benefits can be best ensured across fishing communities by achieving full supply chain traceability with transparency including the transactional aspects. Integration of traceability to the source – with personal identity, payment and product information as requirements – provides the necessary data to have verified equitable compensation.
Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in growing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. Members of the fair trade movement add the payment of higher prices to exporters, as well as improved social and environmental standards.
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Founder and CEO
EMEDO
What’s the role of women in fisheries?
It is recognized that women constitute a bigger percentage of the workforce in the fisheries value chain and more specifically fish trade and fish processing. In most low-income countries, women predominate the postharvest sector and play a key role in ensuring that their families and consumers have more access to food. However, they face many obstacles and frequently do not have the same rights and opportunities as men. Gender inequality in the sector has denied women equal access to fish supplies and markets, yielding uncompetitive results and subjecting them to losses. They often have unequal access to usable assets, technology, and resources such as education, water, and health, all of which are necessary to grow and sustain their enterprises and services.
Unequal power relations often exist between different actors along the value chain, and as a result, women can be vulnerable to disadvantageous contracts and unfair conditions and practices with regard to fish sales and markets. The compound effect is that women have limited influence over decisions that are critical to their livelihoods and to the way they contribute to food security, nutrition, and sustainable food systems.
Moreover, the hygiene, health, and safety conditions in the fisheries value chains including markets and processing plants are not conducive to the special needs of women. The competition in the value chain exposes women to abuse and gender-based violence.
Despite these challenges, women in the fisheries sector have been persevering and playing significant roles all along the value chain from the pre, during, and post-harvesting sections. According to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), women provide an important and essential link between producers and consumers. Hence, the call for gender equity has been recognized as one of the key goals that countries around the world are asked to achieve.
The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small- Scale Fisheries (FAO, 2015) emphasize gender equity, calling attention especially to women involved in the pre-harvest, harvest, and post-harvest fisheries chain. These women are often neglected and marginalized and are thus highly vulnerable.
The Vision statement of the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022 articulates the vision: “A world in which small-scale artisanal fishers, fish farmers and fishworkers of both genders are fully recognized and empowered to continue their contributions to poverty alleviation, human well-being and resilient and sustainable food systems through the responsible use of fisheries and aquaculture resources and socio-economic development”.
The IYAFA 2022 Global Action Plan calls for decent working and living conditions for small-scale artisanal fishers, fish farmers and fish workers in order to secure livelihoods and maintain their social, physical, and cultural well-being. Social protection systems, grounded in a human rights-based approach, have proven to be highly effective in securing social sustainability, as recognized by the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication.
Further, the IYAFA GAP calls for gender equity and equality by recognizing the fact that women account for about half the labor force in small-scale artisanal fisheries and aquaculture, playing a central role in food production, processing, and marketing. This recognition acknowledges the role women play in small-scale artisanal fisheries and aquaculture as well as the deep-rooted challenges they face. Acknowledging these realities is essential to constructing gender-based approaches to management, allowing and incentivizing women to engage in responsibilities all along the value chains.
Many considerations and innovations are required to achieve working space with gender equity, inclusion, safety, and decency in small-scale fisheries in all sectors worldwide, and in particular, giving visibility to the key roles that women play – many of which are often not seen.
The ability of women to access viable work, participate equally in existing markets, and experience increased agency and meaningful participation in economic decision-making at all levels. This includes having access to and control over reproductive resources.
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About
Lexicon of Food is produced by The Lexicon, an international NGO that brings together food companies, government agencies, financial institutions, scientists, entrepreneurs, and food producers from across the globe to tackle some of the most complex challenges facing our food systems.
Team
The Fisheries Channel was developed by an invitation-only food systems solutions activator created by The Lexicon with support from Food at Google. The activator model fosters unprecedented collaborations between leading food service companies, environmental NGOs, government agencies, and technical experts from across the globe.
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This online platform is years in the making, featuring the contributions of 1000+ companies and NGOs across a dzen domain areas. To introduce you to their work, we’ve assembled personalized experiences with insights from our community of international experts.
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We have no idea who grows our food, what farming practices they use, the communities they support, or what processing it undergoes before reaching our plates.
As a result, we have no ability to make food purchases that align with our values as individuals, or our missions as companies.
To change that, we’ve asked experts to demystify the complexity of food purchasing so that you can better informed decisions about what you buy.
The Lexicon of Food’s community of experts share their insights and experiences on the complex journey food takes to reach our plates. Their work underscores the need for greater transparency and better informed decision-making in shaping a healthier and more sustainable food system for all.
Over half the world’s agricultural production comes from only three crops. Can we bring greater diversity to our plates?
In the US, four companies control nearly 85% of the beef we consume. Can we develop more regionally-based markets?
How can we develop alternatives to single-use plastics that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly?
Could changing the way we grow our food provide benefits for people and the planet, and even respond to climate change?
Can we meet the growing global demand for protein while reducing our reliance on traditional animal agriculture?
It’s not only important what we eat but what our food comes in. Can we develop tools that identify toxic materials used in food packaging?
Explore The Lexicon’s collection of immersive storytelling experiences featuring insights from our community of international experts.
The Great Protein Shift
Our experts use an engaging interactive approach to break down the technologies used to create these novel proteins.
Ten Principles for Regenerative Agriculture
What is regenerative agriculture? We’ve developed a framework to explain the principles, practices, ecological benefits and language of regenerative agriculture, then connected them to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Food-related chronic diseases are the biggest burden on healthcare systems. What would happen if we treated food as medicine?
How can we responsibly manage our ocean fisheries so there’s enough seafood for everyone now and for generations to come?
Mobilizing agronomists, farmers, NGOs, chefs, and food companies in defense of biodiversity in nature, agriculture, and on our plates.
Can governments develop guidelines that shift consumer diets, promote balanced nutrition and reduce the risk of chronic disease?
Will sustainably raising shellfish, finfish, shrimp and algae meet the growing demand for seafood while reducing pressure on wild fisheries?
How can a universal visual language to describe our food systems bridge cultural barriers and increase consumer literacy?
What if making the right food choices could be an effective tool for addressing a range of global challenges?
Let’s start with climate change. While it presents our planet with existential challenges, biodiversity loss, desertification, and water scarcity should be of equal concern—they’re all connected.
Instead of seeking singular solutions, we must develop a holistic approach, one that channel our collective energies and achieve positive impacts where they matter most.
To maximize our collective impact, EBF can help consumers focus on six equally important ecological benefits: air, water, soil, biodiversity, equity, and carbon.
We’ve gathered domain experts from over 1,000 companies and organizations working at the intersection of food, agriculture, conservation, and climate change.
The Lexicon™ is a California-based nonprofit founded in 2009 with a focus on positive solutions for a more sustainable planet.
For the past five years, it has developed an “activator for good ideas” with support from Food at Google. This model gathers domain experts from over 1,000 companies and organizations working at the intersection of food, agriculture, conservation, and climate change.
Together, the community has reached consensus on strategies that respond to challenges across multiple domain areas, including biodiversity, regenerative agriculture, food packaging, aquaculture, and the missing middle in supply chains for meat.
Lexicon of Food is the first public release of that work.
Over half the world’s agricultural production comes from only three crops. Can we bring greater diversity to our plates?
In the US, four companies control nearly 85% of the beef we consume. Can we develop more regionally-based markets?
How can we develop alternatives to single-use plastics that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly?
Could changing the way we grow our food provide benefits for people and the planet, and even respond to climate change?
Can we meet the growing global demand for protein while reducing our reliance on traditional animal agriculture?
It’s not only important what we eat but what our food comes in. Can we develop tools that identify toxic materials used in food packaging?
Explore The Lexicon’s collection of immersive storytelling experiences featuring insights from our community of international experts.
The Great Protein Shift
Our experts use an engaging interactive approach to break down the technologies used to create these novel proteins.
Ten Principles for Regenerative Agriculture
What is regenerative agriculture? We’ve developed a framework to explain the principles, practices, ecological benefits and language of regenerative agriculture, then connected them to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Food-related chronic diseases are the biggest burden on healthcare systems. What would happen if we treated food as medicine?
How can we responsibly manage our ocean fisheries so there’s enough seafood for everyone now and for generations to come?
Mobilizing agronomists, farmers, NGOs, chefs, and food companies in defense of biodiversity in nature, agriculture, and on our plates.
Can governments develop guidelines that shift consumer diets, promote balanced nutrition and reduce the risk of chronic disease?
Will sustainably raising shellfish, finfish, shrimp and algae meet the growing demand for seafood while reducing pressure on wild fisheries?
How can a universal visual language to describe our food systems bridge cultural barriers and increase consumer literacy?
This game was designed to raise awareness about the impacts our food choices have on our own health, but also the environment, climate change and the cultures in which we live.
First, you can choose one of the four global regions and pick a character that you want to play.
Each region has distinct cultural, economic, historical, and agricultural capacities to feed itself, and each character faces different challenges, such as varied access to food, higher or lower family income, and food literacy.
As you take your character through their day, select the choices you think they might make given their situation.
At the end of the day you will get a report on the impact of your food choices on five areas: health, healthcare, climate, environment and culture. Take some time to read through them. Now go back and try again. Can you make improvements in all five areas? Did one area score higher, but another score lower?
FOOD CHOICES FOR A HEALTHY PLANET will help you better understand how all these regions and characters’ particularities can influence our food choices, and how our food choices can impact our personal health, national healthcare, environment, climate, and culture. Let’s Play!
The FOOD CHOICES FOR A HEALTHY PLANET game allows users to experience the dramatic connections between food and climate in a unique and engaging way. The venue and the game set-up provides attendees with a fun experience, with a potential to add a new layer of storytelling about this topic.
Starting the game: the pilot version of the game features four country/regions: Each reflects a different way people (and the national dietary guidelines) look at diets: Nordic Countries (sustainability), Brazil (local and whole foods instead of ultra-processed foods); Canada (plant-forward), and Indonesia (developing countries).
Personalizing the game: players begin by choosing a country and then a character who they help in making food choices over the course of one day. Later versions may allow for creating custom avatars.
Making tough food choices: This interactive game for all ages shows how the food choices we make impact our health and the environment, and even contribute to climate change.
What we eat matters: at the end of each game, players learn that every decision they make impacts not only their health, but a national healthcare system, the environment, climate and even culture.
We’d love to know more about you and why you think you will be a great fit for this position! Shoot us an email introducing you and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
Providing best water quality conditions to ensure optimal living condition for growth, breeding and other physiological needs
Water quality is sourced from natural seawater with dependency on the tidal system. Water is treated to adjust pH and alkalinity before stocking.
Producers that own and manages the farm operating under small-scale farming model with limited input, investment which leads to low to medium production yield
All 1,149 of our farmers in both regencies are smallholder farmers who operate with low stocking density, traditional ponds, and no use of any other intensification technology.
Safe working conditions — cleanliness, lighting, equipment, paid overtime, hazard safety, etc. — happen when businesses conduct workplace safety audits and invest in the wellbeing of their employees
Company ensure implementation of safe working conditions by applying representative of workers to health and safety and conduct regular health and safety training. The practices are proven by ASIC standards’ implementation
Implementation of farming operations, management and trading that impact positively to community wellbeing and sustainable better way of living
The company works with local stakeholders and local governments to create support for farmers and the farming community in increasing resilience. Our farming community is empowered by local stakeholders continuously to maintain a long generation of farmers.
Freezing seafood rapidly when it is at peak freshness to ensure a higher quality and longer lasting product
Our harvests are immediately frozen with ice flakes in layers in cool boxes. Boxes are equipped with paper records and coding for traceability. We ensure that our harvests are processed with the utmost care at <-18 degrees Celsius.
Sourcing plant based ingredients, like soy, from producers that do not destroy forests to increase their growing area and produce fish feed ingredients
With adjacent locations to mangroves and coastal areas, our farmers and company are committed to no deforestation at any scale. Mangrove rehabilitation and replantation are conducted every year in collaboration with local authorities. Our farms are not established in protected habitats and have not resulted from deforestation activity since the beginning of our establishment.
Implement only natural feeds grown in water for aquatic animal’s feed without use of commercial feed
Our black tiger shrimps are not fed using commercial feed. The system is zero input and depends fully on natural feed grown in the pond. Our farmers use organic fertilizer and probiotics to enhance the water quality.
Enhance biodiversity through integration of nature conservation and food production without negative impact to surrounding ecosysytem
As our practices are natural, organic, and zero input, farms coexist with surrounding biodiversity which increases the volume of polyculture and mangrove coverage area. Farmers’ groups, along with the company, conduct regular benthic assessments, river cleaning, and mangrove planting.
THE TERM “MOONSHOT” IS OFTEN USED TO DESCRIBE an initiative that goes beyond the confines of the present by transforming our greatest aspirations into reality, but the story of a moonshot isn’t that of a single rocket. In fact, the Apollo program that put Neil Armstrong on the moon was actually preceded by the Gemini program, which in a two-year span rapidly put ten rockets into space. This “accelerated” process — with a new mission nearly every 2-3 months — allowed NASA to rapidly iterate, validate their findings and learn from their mistakes. Telemetry. Propulsion. Re-entry. Each mission helped NASA build and test a new piece of the puzzle.
The program also had its fair share of creative challenges, especially at the outset, as the urgency of the task at hand required that the roadmap for getting to the moon be written in parallel with the rapid pace of Gemini missions. Through it all, the NASA teams never lost sight of their ultimate goal, and the teams finally aligned on their shared responsibilities. Within three years of Gemini’s conclusion, a man did walk on the moon.
FACT is a food systems solutions activator that assesses the current food landscape, engages with key influencers, identifies trends, surveys innovative work and creates greater visibility for ideas and practices with the potential to shift key food and agricultural paradigms.
Each activator focuses on a single moonshot; instead of producing white papers, policy briefs or peer-reviewed articles, these teams design and implement blueprints for action. At the end of each activator, their work is released to the public and open-sourced.
As with any rapid iteration process, many of our activators re-assess their initial plans and pivot to address new challenges along the way. Still, one thing has remained constant: their conviction that by working together and pooling their knowledge and resources, they can create a multiplier effect to more rapidly activate change.
Co-Founder
THE LEXICON
Vice President
Global Workplace Programs
GOOGLE
Who can enter and how selections are made.
A Greener Blue is a global call to action that is open to individuals and teams from all over the world. Below is a non-exhaustive list of subjects the initiative targets.
To apply, prospective participants will need to fill out the form on the website, by filling out each part of it. Applications left incomplete or containing information that is not complete enough will receive a low score and have less chance of being admitted to the storytelling lab.
Nonprofit organizations, communities of fishers and fish farmers and companies that are seeking a closer partnership or special support can also apply by contacting hello@thelexicon.org and interacting with the members of our team.
Special attention will be given to the section of the form regarding the stories that the applicants want to tell and the reasons for participating. All proposals for stories regarding small-scale or artisanal fishers or aquaculturists, communities of artisanal fishers or aquaculturists, and workers in different steps of the seafood value chain will be considered.
Stories should show the important role that these figures play in building a more sustainable seafood system. To help with this narrative, the initiative has identified 10 principles that define a more sustainable seafood system. These can be viewed on the initiative’s website and they state:
Seafood is sustainable when:
Proposed stories should show one or more of these principles in practice.
Applications are open from the 28th of June to the 15th of August 2022. There will be 50 selected applicants who will be granted access to The Lexicon’s Total Storytelling Lab. These 50 applicants will be asked to accept and sign a learning agreement and acceptance of participation document with which they agree to respect The Lexicon’s code of conduct.
The first part of the lab will take place online between August the 22nd and August the 26th and focus on training participants on the foundation of storytelling, supporting them to create a production plan, and aligning all of them around a shared vision.
Based on their motivation, quality of the story, geography, and participation in the online Lab, a selected group of participants will be gifted a GoPro camera offered to the program by GoPro For A Change. Participants who are selected to receive the GoPro camera will need to sign an acceptance and usage agreement.
The second part of the Storytelling Lab will consist of a production period in which each participant will be supported in the production of their own story. This period goes from August 26th to October 13th. Each participant will have the opportunity to access special mentorship from an international network of storytellers and seafood experts who will help them build their story. The Lexicon also provides editors, animators, and graphic designers to support participants with more technical skills.
The final deadline to submit the stories is the 14th of October. Participants will be able to both submit complete edited stories, or footage accompanied by a storyboard to be assembled by The Lexicon’s team.
All applicants who will exhibit conduct and behavior that is contrary to The Lexicon’s code of conduct will be automatically disqualified. This includes applicants proposing stories that openly discriminate against a social or ethnic group, advocate for a political group, incite violence against any group, or incite to commit crimes of any kind.
All submissions must be the entrant’s original work. Submissions must not infringe upon the trademark, copyright, moral rights, intellectual rights, or rights of privacy of any entity or person.
Participants will retain the copyrights to their work while also granting access to The Lexicon and the other partners of the initiative to share their contributions as part of A Greener Blue Global Storytelling Initiative.
If a potential selected applicant cannot be reached by the team of the Initiative within three (3) working days, using the contact information provided at the time of entry, or if the communication is returned as undeliverable, that potential participant shall forfeit.
Selected applicants will be granted access to an advanced Storytelling Lab taught and facilitated by Douglas Gayeton, award-winning storyteller and information architect, co-founder of The Lexicon. In this course, participants will learn new techniques that will improve their storytelling skills and be able to better communicate their work with a global audience. This skill includes (but is not limited to) how to build a production plan for a documentary, how to find and interact with subjects, and how to shoot a short documentary.
Twenty of the participants will receive a GoPro Hero 11 Digital Video and Audio Cameras by September 15, 2022. Additional participants may receive GoPro Digital Video and Audio Cameras to be announced at a later date. The recipients will be selected by advisors to the program and will be based on selection criteria (see below) on proposals by Storytelling Lab participants. The selections will keep in accordance with Lab criteria concerning geography, active participation in the Storytelling Lab and commitment to the creation of a story for the Initiative, a GoPro Camera to use to complete the storytelling lab and document their story. These recipients will be asked to sign an acceptance letter with terms of use and condition to receive the camera.
The Lexicon provides video editors, graphic designers, and animators to support the participants to complete their stories.
The submitted stories will be showcased during international and local events, starting from the closing event of the International Year of Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022 in Rome, in January 2023. The authors of the stories will be credited and may be invited to join.
Storytelling lab participation:
Applicants that will be granted access to the storytelling Lab will be evaluated based on the entries they provided in the online form, and in particular:
Applications will be evaluated by a team of 4 judges from The Lexicon, GSSI and the team of IYAFA (Selection committee).
When selecting applications, the call promoters may request additional documentation or interviews both for the purpose of verifying compliance with eligibility requirements and to facilitate proposal evaluation.
Camera recipients:
Participants to the Storytelling Lab who will be given a GoPro camera will be selected based on:
The evaluation will be carried out by a team of 4 judges from The Lexicon, GSSI and the team of IYAFA (Selection committee).
Incidental expenses and all other costs and expenses which are not specifically listed in these Official Rules but which may be associated with the acceptance, receipt and use of the Storytelling Lab and the camera are solely the responsibility of the respective participants and are not covered by The Lexicon or any of the A Greener Blue partners.
All participants who receive a Camera are required to sign an agreement allowing GoPro for a Cause, The Lexicon and GSSI to utilize the films for A Greener Blue and their promotional purposes. All participants will be required to an agreement to upload their footage into the shared drive of The Lexicon and make the stories, films and images available for The Lexicon and the promoting partners of A Greener Blue.