Small-scale fisheries account for about half of the world’s seafood catch and 90% of its industry workers. In the context of the Philippines, over 1.9 million people rely on the fishing sector as their source of livelihood with a vast number of coastal communities considering it as part of their cultural fabric, identity, and economic kinship.
Despite being one of the world’s largest seafood producers and a center of marine biodiversity, the Philippine seafood value chain is marred by a lot of challenges particularly from illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
In 2019, over 40% of the country’s wild caught seafood came from IUU. This is according to Better Seafood Philippines, a USAID-funded program that aims to transform the Philippine seafood market by ensuring legal compliance to fishery laws, and empowering small-scale fishers to meet the growing demand for responsibly-sourced seafood.
Espousing this fundamental mission to promote sustainability in the seafood industry, Better Seafood Philippines recently signed its memorandum of understanding with agri-fisheries startup Mayani to lay down its areas of collaboration: from market access creation for its fisherfolk up to supply chain development and community enablement through the adoption of the Responsible Seafood Sourcing (RSS) standards.
“Better Seafood Philippines sees the critical role of seafood processors and distributors like Mayani in bringing responsible seafood from source to consumers. Creating broader market access to fisherfolk and fishing communities through innovative agri-food supply chain technology and sustainable distribution pathways is an advocacy we share with Mayani,” said Josette Emlen Genio, Sustainable Markets Specialist of Sustainable Fisheries Partnership.
Caption: USAID Fish Right Program, Better Seafood Philippines, and Mayani plan for the upcoming 1st Responsible Seafood Summit
RSS refers to the principles and rules in purchasing, harvesting, and processing seafood and seafood products responsibility. Initially, the marine biodiversity preservation focus was in the areas of Calamianes, Southern Negros, and Visayan Sea. Better Seafood Philippines then expanded to capacitate Mayani’s community of fisherfolk in Zambales, particularly in South Botolan.
“It was last year when we started moving bigger volumes of seafood to the market such as tilapia, yellow fin tuna, galunggong, asuhos, grouper, and other high-value catch,” told Ochie San Juan, the Co-Founder and Chief Farmer of Mayani. “Our partnership with Better Seafood Philippines formalizes our implementation of the RSS standards across our Mayani supply chain, and also gives us the grassroots support to holistically drive the positive transformation of our fisherfolk communities, even in their post-catch practices (i.e. salting, smoking, drying) where women assume a huge contributory role.”
Mayani is known to be one of the key fresh produce, poultry, and seafood supply chain players catering to mainstream supermarket chains, international hotels, food processors, and restaurant chains. They just completed a series of community consultations with the Department of Agriculture Region 3 and the Provincial and Municipal Fisheries Council of Botolan in Zambales to further co-develop their seafood supply chain in Region 3 that conforms to the RSS standards.
