Impacto Colectivo para la Pesca y Acuacultura en México

Mexico – www.icpmx.org/

Commercial fishing is an important economic, social, and cultural activity in Mexico. As one of the largest seafood producers worldwide, Mexico’s commercial fisheries produce approximately two percent of the world´s seafood by volume, employing approximately 350,000 people and providing food security to millions more. The industry is diverse: it includes a modest industrial fleet that accounts for more than half of Mexico’s total catch by volume and value, a much larger flotilla (accounting for 96 percent of the fleet) of small-scale fishery vessels, and a growing aquaculture industry. Despite the importance of commercial fishing, fisheries management in Mexico is mired by various social, administrative, political, and market-related challenges. As a result, most fish stocks exhibit signs of decline and, unless circumstances change significantly, it is estimated that Mexico´s fisheries could collapse within 20 years.

Recognizing that disconnected, siloed efforts cannot adequately address the complex and interrelated challenges associated with transitioning to sustainable fisheries, NGOs, researchers, fishing organizations, and other supply chain stakeholders have worked since 2016 to organize a structured, cross-sector collaboration effort. The resulting initiative—the Mexico Sustainable Fisheries Collective-Impact Initiative (CI Initiative)—aims to support the legality and sustainability of the country’s fishing and aquaculture sectors, the health and productivity of the marine ecosystems that sustain them, and the social and economic security of fishing communities and industries committed to sustainability. Please visit the Initiative´s website for more detailed information on the initiative´s participants, structure, and agenda).

The Initiative’s Common Agenda

The common agenda is the strategic action framework agreed upon initiative participants. It includes a long-term vision for change, a common understanding of the problem, and a joint approach to solving the problem through agreed-upon goals and actions. The common agenda goals include:

1. Promoting multisectoral collaboration by generating spaces for dialogue and the proactive exchange of perspectives and proposed solutions;
2. Improving governance, public policies, and management of fisheries and aquaculture resources in Mexico;
3. Encouraging the production and consumption of national fisheries and aquaculture products from environmentally sustainable and socially responsible fisheries;
4. Improving the competitiveness of producers and the value-added of wild and aquaculture products;
5. Increasing the well-being and resilience of communities and individuals engaged in fishing and aquaculture production and value chains;
6. Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems and populations of marine and freshwater species of interest to fishing and aquaculture.

The CI Initiative is designed to engage multiple stakeholders at all levels, from local to national, to achieve the common agenda goals and impact at scale. To do so, we use various mechanisms and levels of engagement including participating in the initiative´s workgroups (and related work plans); participating in targeted stakeholder dialogues, and subscribing policy recommendations and voluntary standards & practices.

Stella Maris

Thailand – www.stellamaris.org/ | web.facebook.com/StellaMarisSeafarersCentreSriracha/

The Apostleship of the Sea is a Catholic charity supporting seafarers and Fishers worldwide.  We provide practical and pastoral care to all seafarers/Fishers, regardless of nationality, belief or race. Our port chaplains and volunteer ship visitors welcome seafarers/Fishers, offer welfare services and advice, practical help, care and friendship. The Apostleship of the Sea in Thailand is part of an International network known to the maritime world as Stella Maris, working in 334 ports with 227 port chaplains in 59 countries.

Project Activities.

1. Migrant children and Adults have sustainable access to the best possible education opportunities, community learning center through mobile education by Ship Visitor
2. Migrant workers have access to basic rights , including health , labor and Human Trafficking Protection, Migrant workers receive training on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, Children receive health care vaccinations and nutrition . Migrant leaders receive training on trafficking prevention and safe migration .

Stella Maris Seafarers Center ( Drop in Center ) in Fishing Pier Sriracha , Samae San , Rayong , Songkla ( FLEC) ,Pattani offer “One-Stop Service” for workers in Thai fishing industry and their families, offering education, health improvement programs, skill development courses, translation supports, and religous activities as well as being coordinator between fishermen, particularly migrant workers, and government agencies.

Stella Maris engages fishers in their living quarters at port and through the provision of medical care in Center. This has proven to be an effective way of reaching workers isolated at sea. We have connected several thousands of individuals with information and trained a portion of them to become community leaders and workers’ representatives, Through this approach, We are able to overcome the legal restriction on migrant organizing with State Enterprise Worker’s relation Confederation ( SERC ) by training representatives to provide para-legal advice on labor disputes and support negotiations between migrant workers and their employers. Ship to Shore Project — Some community leaders trained as para-legals and mentored by Stella Maris are now able to provide independent advice. Our work has mentored migrant leaders to learn about grievance procedures directly, provide immediate assistance and make assessments about whether to refer serious cases directly to Stella Maris .

Strong partnerships have been a driving force behind Thailand’s transition toward becoming IUU free country. Fishermen Life Enhancement Center (FLEC) is among many of the public-private cooperation created to tackle human rights issue in Thai fishing industry by five organizations, including the Fish Marketing Organization; Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives; Department of Labor Protection and Welfare; Family Planning Association of Thailand; Stella Maris Centre Songkhla and Charoen Pokphand Foods, to be a neutral party that ensure equal treatment. In addition, it also upgrades living standards of fishermen in Songkhla province.

These successful activities help the Stella Maris and FLEC center to gain recognition and trust from the migrant workers, who spread  news via word of mouth to their fellow workers and family members, resulting growing numbers of users each year.

Even though the European Commission already lifted Thailand’s Yellow Card for illegal fishing, Stella Maris and FLEC center would like to stress that all relevant parties will need to carry on their work and cooperate even more to eliminate human trafficking, child labour and forced labour.

We believe that strong partnership is vital for Thailand in order to move toward an IUU-free country and, therefore, the center is looking to further strengthen the relationship with workers to become “a friend that all workers can trust”.

International Transport Workers Federation

Thailand – www.justiceforfishers.org | www.thaiunion.com/en/newsroom/press-release/921/thai-union-international-transport-workers-federation-host-health-and-safety-training-in-thailand

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is committed to building a democratic, representative union of fishers in Thailand through the Fishers’ Rights Network (FRN), which campaigns to improve the wages, working conditions and labour rights of all fishers in the Thai fishing industry.

Since early 2017, FRN organisers have built alliances with key stakeholders in the public, private and NGO sectors working together to advocate for change in the Thai fishing industry, promote and defend fishers’ rights and to drive material changes in the lives of fishers.

With offices strategically located in seaports throughout Thailand, FRN has developed a network of trade union activists from among the migrant fishers’ community, building organising capacity to combat abuse and exploitation in the industry, and establishing FRN as the leading voice for fishers in Thailand. (www.justiceforfishers.org)

The ITF is a democratic global union federation of 670 transport workers trade unions representing 18.5 million workers in 147 countries. The ITF works to improve the lives of transport workers globally, encouraging and organising international solidarity among its network of affiliates. The ITF represents the interests of transport workers’ unions in bodies that take decisions affecting jobs, employment conditions and safety in the transport industry, with a long history of promoting the employment and welfare of fishers, seafarers and other transport workers around the world. (www.itfglobal.org)

Labor Rights Promotion Network

Thailand – www.endslaverynow.org/labour-rights-promotion-network

The Labour Rights Promotion Network Foundation (LPN) is a non-government organization working in Thailand on issues of human trafficking, various types of labour expoitation, and the protection and promotion of children’s rights. Our organization works to prioritize the protection and assistance of children who are subjected to, or are at risk of encountering, abuse, violence, negligence of care, and exploitation. To address these issues LPN advocates for the provision of educational and social protections, as well as emphasizing the need for access to appropriate healthcare and social services. Given the acute vulnerability of migrant children in Samut Sakhon, and Thailand as a whole, LPN channels a significant amount of time and resources into promoting children’s issues and providing care, assistance, and safeguarding services to past, current, and potential victims of exploitation and rights violations.

Over the past 10 years, LPN has worked continuously with migrant workers and migrant children. This work has resulted in the development of various types of strategies and methods, such as,

1. The ability to collaborate with other activists and official bodies in order to deliver the most effective assistance and treatment to victims of human trafficking and human rights abuse. Examples of this activity include the establishment of The Labour Center and the Seafarers Action Center (SAC), both of which work in cooperation with law enforcement groups.
2. Creating and improving methods of disseminating knowledge and information regarding the rights and legal entitlements of migrants. For example, LPN has worked with several local schools in areas with a high density migrant population, resulting to the inclusion of migrant rights issues into the teaching syllabus. This has proven to be an effective model for the integration of migrant children into Thai public schools.
3. Initiating adjustments to operational methods in order to develop effective and cooperative relationships with national and regional organisations and institutions, both government- and privately run. Such adjustments to LPN’s working strategies are the result of internal motivation, and are aimed at promoting equal opportunities for all people, regardless of religion, gender, nationality, ethnic background, or age.
4. Encouraging participation from other migrant and labour rights NGO, such as the Action Network for Migrant (ANM), Migrant Working Group (MWG), Anti Human Trafficking Network in Thailand (ATN), and the Cambodia and Thailand Anti-Human Trafficking Network (CAHT). In order to push for the establishment of the Migrant Union Network in Thailand (MUNT), thus also incorporating the Community Base Organisation (CBO).

At the present time, the Labour Rights Promotion Network Foundation, or LPN, is operating as a research and learning center, which caters to students studying at all levels of education, as well as organisations working in Thailand, Southeast Asia, and worldwide. The foundation also functions as a base for national and international media associations, distributing information about the urgency and significance of migrant labour rights and anti-human trafficking movement.

Sailors for the Sea Japan

Japan – www.sailorsforthesea.org/blog/projects-events/sailors-sea-japan

Sailors for the Sea Japan (SFSJ), web site at http://sailorsforthesea.jp/ was established in 2011 as an ocean conservation NGO. It is a Japanese independent entity and an affiliate of Sailors for the Sea (SFS) which is US NGO founded by David Rockefeller, Jr. in 2004, dedicated to ocean conservation and it is now merged with OCEANA, the world’s largest ocean conservation NGO whose main office is in Washington DC.

SFSJ has introduced “Blue Seafood Guide” in 2013 as one of their educational programs, with the aim of raising people’s awareness for seafood sustainability issue in Japan.  Blue Seafood Guide is positive rating program based on the science evidence for consumer education, with the list of seafood which are relatively abundant and still consumable, thus is to provide opportunity for people to think about condition of rest of species as well in order to conserve oceans.

Blue Seafood Partners has been increased to more than 45 organizations which include leading hotels, businesses, local government, Universities, and restaurants including big names such as Maxcell and PASCO group.

Global Seafood Rating Alliance was established and Monterey Bay Aquarium is taking its lead. Blue Seafood Guide is participating as a charter member and as Asia’s only rating program with evaluation method.

Teng Hoi

Hong Kong – tenghoiconservation.org/

Teng Hoi is a non-governmental organization founded in 2003 . ‘Teng Hoi’ is a Cantonese phrase that translates to ‘listen to the sea’, a name that originated from our first program in the early 2000s – the development of a device to locate explosions underwater generated by illegal fish bombs. At Teng Hoi, we believe in listening and collaborating with industry members and NGOs to bring forth change.

One of our latest projects, the Marketplace, is a result of an endeavor started in 2017. The Marketplace tackles the issue of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) seafood in Hong Kong’s supply chain by providing a platform where buyers can meet sellers and everyone has trust that their counterparts understand the issues and agree to the rules. Prior to joining, buyers and sellers will have agreed to follow the voluntary codes of conduct within the Hong Kong Sustainable Seafood Coalition. This ensures that they have taken their responsibilities seriously.

Sellers can nominate seafood products for which they have confidence in their supply chain within a 1-2-3 star traceability rating, where 1-star corresponds to basic level traceability and 3-star to high-level traceability. The prerequisite for any product on display is that a seller can confidently provide information that fulfills the 1-star level traceability. Sellers are responsible for these claims and agree to independent audits from time to time. Buyers can then choose products with confidence.

However, the Marketplace is not an e-commerce platform. In order to comply with the competition ordinance in Hong Kong, there is no pricing information published on the Marketplace. The platform also fosters healthy competition, following the common sense business logic where buyers cannot see other buyers and sellers cannot see other sellers on the platform.

Sustainable Fisheries Trade

Peru – sftlatam.com/

Sustainable Fishery trade is the first peruvian social Enterprise to empower fishers through a transparent business model which connects fishers with restaurants and final consumers using his traceability technology called NEMO.

SFT believes in the potential of the relationship between fishers and chefs, especially when both stakeholders share the same sustainability visión. By creating a shorter harvest and supply chain, SFT has been able to generates greater value for both parties.

SFT was born in 2016 in Peru and after only three years is starting is operations in Chile replicating the same model.

By connecting chefs with small-scale fishers, SFT hopes to prepare the seafood supply chain for the future.

ASIC

SE Asia – www.asicollaborative.org/

The Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative is a group of International Stakeholders dedicated to developing creative strategies for improving the Asian seafood industry. The Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative (ASIC) is a burgeoning regional collaboration between private sector stakeholders from Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam who have come together to tackle social and environmental sustainability challenges facing the Asian seafood industry. ASIC stakeholders represent various elements of the Asian seafood industry including producer organizations, processors, environmental NGOs, and local certification bodies. These ASIC participants work in conjunction with export market stakeholders, including NGOs, buyers, and certification bodies, to build innovative tools designed to foster improvement for both shrimp aquaculture and fisheries in the region.

Our mission is to empower Asian stakeholders to create pathways for seafood improvement that account for the social, environmental, and traceability challenges facing the region which accurately reward those producers who strive for the highest performance by connecting them with markets that can support the value of their products.

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