The problem of unsustainable fishing is one often defined by a negative casting, and the discouraged sense that “things are only getting worse.”
Our research of the seafood supply chain uncovered reason for tenacious hope. Commissioned by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in 2008, this report was the first of three phases of research that culminated in the founding of Future of Fish as a non-profit organization dedicated to leveraging the power of innovators to shift the landscape of the seafood industry. It represents a journey of discovering bold opportunities for change and for inventing compelling, powerful solutions. Ultimately, these pages should be seen as an invitation: to re-envision what is possible, through the eyes of entrepreneurs.
“There’s still a whole world of awe-inspiring, unique marine beauty to engage with. We must create a relationship to what is around us, not what’s been lost. That’s how to inspire change.”
Our process involved surveying entrepreneurial efforts addressing unsustainable fishing and distilling from those a set of frameworks for understanding why those solutions succeed. We reviewed more than 120 solutions from entrepreneurs and non-profits addressing the problem of unsustainable fishing, and then segmented the solutions based on which part of the supply chain they targeted: consumers, seafood buyers, and fisheries. We made specific observations about what was working and what was missing, which led to ideation and, ultimately, to eight entrepreneurial opportunities.
