Fisheries
Gear, practice, and stock recovery in named waters.
Focus — Natural Resources & Regenerative Systems — Oceans and fisheries
OCEANS AND FISHERIES
IDEAS WE SUPPORT.
World Seed Fund supports people whose ideas improve coastal and marine livelihoods for the fishers, processors, and coastal households who depend on the sea.
Why this area
OCEANS AND FISHERIES
IN CONTEXT.
Fishing communities hold precise knowledge of stocks, seasons, and weather. Ideas qualify when that knowledge is visible in the work, and when the catch, the boat, the market, and the stock are considered together.
Scope of the area
WHAT THIS AREA
INCLUDES.
Illustrations of scope, not a fixed list. If your idea belongs here but is not described below, introduce it anyway.
Coastal livelihoods
Landing, processing, cold chain, and market access.
Marine habitat
Reefs, mangroves, seagrass, and the fish they hold.
Safety & navigation
Weather, vessels, and safety at sea.
Criteria to qualify
WHAT A OCEANS AND FISHERIES
IDEA MUST SHOW.
All five criteria apply. An idea does not need to be complete or proven — it needs to be specific enough that we can judge it, and grounded enough that a next step is possible.
A defined problem, in a defined place
We need to understand exactly who is affected, where, and how they cope today. General statements about a global challenge are not enough to qualify.
- Names the place, community, or system where coastal and marine livelihoods fall short.
- States the situation today in plain terms — catch per effort, spoilage, price received, or habitat recovered.
- Explains what the fishers, processors, and coastal households who depend on the sea do now, and what it costs them.
Human insight behind the idea
The idea should come from knowledge of the situation — technical, scientific, operational, cultural, or lived — rather than from an assumption about it.
- Draws on direct knowledge of coastal and marine livelihoods in that place.
- Accounts for why earlier quota, gear, and conservation schemes did not hold here.
- Was shaped with the fishers, processors, and coastal households who depend on the sea, not only for them.
A credible next step
There must be a specific thing that can be attempted next, at a scale that can be observed honestly, with a stated way of judging whether it worked.
- A defined pilot with a stated size — boats, landing sites, or fishing households in a season.
- A stated measure of success — catch per effort, spoilage, price received, or habitat recovered.
- A timeframe within which the result can be judged honestly.
Value for people and place
The benefit should be meaningful to the community or system the idea serves, and describable in terms they would recognise.
- Improves income, food supply, and stock recovery for the fishers, processors, and coastal households who depend on the sea.
- The benefit is described in words the community itself would use.
- Does not shift cost, risk, or harm onto neighbouring people or systems.
A path to keep working
Ideas qualify when someone can plausibly own, operate, fund, and repair the result after the first phase of support ends.
- A named fisher cooperative, landing site committee, or marine authority able to carry the work after the first phase.
- Running costs, materials, and skills obtainable near the work.
- Ownership, permission, or agreement that lets the work continue.
Evidence & boundaries
WHAT HELPS,
AND WHAT DOES NOT.
Evidence can be modest. A careful account of a small trial is worth more than a projection.
Evidence we look for
- Any observation, record, or measurement of coastal and marine livelihoods in that place.
- Costs, materials, or time recorded from a small trial, however modest.
- Notes, letters, or agreements from the fishers, processors, and coastal households who depend on the sea or the fisher cooperative, landing site committee, or marine authority.
Usually outside this area
- Broad proposals about oceans and fisheries with no named place and no named people.
- Equipment or funding requests with no operator and no running cost.
- Work that transfers cost, risk, or harm to neighbouring people or systems.
Submit an idea
INTRODUCE YOUR
OCEANS AND FISHERIES IDEA.
There is no application window and no required format. Answer these four questions in your own words and we will read them.
Who is affected, where, and how do they manage today?
What do you know about coastal and marine livelihoods that others working on it may not?
What could you attempt next, and how would you judge whether it worked?
Who continues the work afterwards, and what keeps it running?
Human potential is everywhere. Opportunity should be too.