What do Google, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and the California Fisheries Fund (CFF) have in common?
Through their innovations in purchasing, policy, and finance, they share a commitment to making seafood more sustainable. And they each play a critical role in supporting the sustainable seafood supply chain.
That became clear last week when EDF, CFF, and Google came together with Morro Bay fishermen and suppliers to break new ground at Google’s Mountain View headquarters and announce the launch of the California Fisheries Fund. CFF is the nation’s first community loan fund for fishermen and seafood businesses that have sustainability as a core element to their business model.
Google is a great example of how we all have a role to play – from fish to plate – in ensuring that there is plenty of fresh, healthy, delicious and eco-friendly seafood far into the future. Google set incredibly demanding seafood requirements, and then chose to purchase fish from Central Coast Seafood, a CFF borrower.
Central Coast Seafood in turn has a role to play in its commitment to buy and distribute eco-friendly seafood to global markets. It was this commitment that qualified Central Coast Seafood as one of the first recipients of a California Fisheries Fund loan.
And Central Coast Seafood needs a reliable supplier of local, fresh seafood, and that’s where our next CFF borrower, Morro Bay Fish Company comes in. Morro Bay Fish Company is using its CFF loan to provide a great dockside landing for all of the fresh, delicious fish being brought in by fishermen like Roger Cullen, and in the process helping to rebuild Morro Bay.
Roger Cullen has been approved for a CFF loan to buy a more efficient boat that he will use to experiment with more selective fishing gear. Roger aims to target locally-abundant fish such as black cod and black gill, and to avoid fish that are threatened or rebuilding.
CFF is investing in Morro Bay fishermen and businesses in part because of the EDF-supported “catch share” program that was recently adopted for Pacific groundfish. Catch share programs provide fishermen with a guaranteed percentage of the catch based on boat size and fishing history. Recent studies have shown that catch shares and other reforms restore fisheries and spur new economic growth. One study, published in the journal Nature, conservatively estimated that catch shares could double the net economic value of U.S. commercial fisheries.
Corporations like Google have a role to play in creating a market demand for healthy and eco-friendly seafood. Organizations like EDF also help create those markets by advocating for smarter, more profitable, and more environmentally sustainable management systems like catch shares. And the California Fisheries Fund helps the fishermen, seafood business, and fishing communities that supply, process, and distribute eco-friendly seafood.
State and federal governments have a critical role to play as well in providing the right kind of incentives and regulations, like catch shares, that reward innovation and sustainable fishing. They can help in other ways, too. For example, the State of California’s Ocean Protection Council contributed $2 million to the California Fisheries Fund $5 million revolving fund with private foundations like the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation contributing the remainder.
And every individual, including you, has a major role to play in creating eco-friendly fishing and vibrant coastal communities. By asking for eco-friendly seafood from Central Coast Seafood and Morro Bay Fish Company at your local restaurants and grocery stores, you can drive the demand for eco-friendly fishing and help reward good ocean stewards like Roger Cullen, Morro Bay Fish Company and Central Coast Seafood. This will help them to repay their CFF loans and provide more capital that can be invested in fishing communities up and down the West Coast.
Together we can transform fishing on the West Coast from a struggling industry into one that is vibrant, profitable and eco-friendly. Read about how the California Fisheries Fund is creating sustainable fisheries in Fast Company and the Sustainable Industries Journal. With your support, we will continue our efforts to develop innovative new ways to restore our marine resources to ecological sustainability and to rebuild America's fisheries.
Thank you for everything you help make possible,
Calfornia Fisheries Fund
Michael D. DeLapa
Director
www.californiafisheriesfund.com
A Project of EDF
www.edf.org
123 Mission Street, 28th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-293-6088 (direct)
415-293-6050 (office)
650-291-4991 (cell)
mdelapa@edf.org
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