AP2HI Socialized its Program Progress in The South and South-East Asia Regional Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) Workshop

On the 2nd and 3rd of August 2016, The South and South-East Asia Regional Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) workshop was held in Bali, with the support from NGOs and various funding agencies (the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, International Seafood Sustainability Foundation [ISSF], Masyarakat dan Perikanan Indonesia [MDPI], Sustainability Fisheries Partnership [SFP], Scalling Blue, International Pole & Line Foundation [IPNLF], WWF Indonesia dan Coral Triangle Center [CTC]). It was attended by about 60 participants from NGOs, governments, science communities, and business sectors that are keen in implementing FIP (Fishery Improvement Project). The aims of this workshop were for participants who have carried out FIP, particularly in the South and South-East Asia region, to share their successes and challenges that they had encountered, and also for building a network among fellow FIP stakeholders.

This workshop was not only attended by Indonesia but also from different countries, including Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand and India. Thus, they also had their own representation from governments, NGOs and businesses to present the progress of FIP in their respective countries. At the beginning of the workshop, Max Levine, from the California Environmental Associates (CEA), gave a presentation about several types of FIP according to the methods of implementation (Basic FIP Bottom-up, Basic FIP Top-down, Comprehensive FIP Bottom-up and Comprehensive FIP Top-down) and the structure of FIP (Type of fishery, type of fishers, type of traders, type of processors, type of buyers and type of retailers).

On this occasion, AP2HI stated that FIP implementation in Indonesia so far has been dominated by NGOs. Recently, however, industries such as AP2HI and APRI (Rajungan Indonesian Employers Association) have started to innovate and to take on a more prominent role in implementing the FIP Program. AP2HI conducted the implementation of FIP by registering its members’ ships, inviting the industry to report data of catch and production, training fishermen, working with the government to put an onboard observer on its members’ ships, and being actively involved in the executive committee of FIP. With these efforts, AP2HI has managed to gain the trust and cooperation of various parties (the government, NGOs, buyers etc.)

Many discussion sessions were conducted in this forum, such as discussions about the core issues in the fishing industry, about governments and NGOs on the implementation of FIP, and about ways to make FIP mainstream in the countries participating in this workshop. Other discussion topics were related to three issues, namely: (i) how to build incentives for businesses and fishermen so that they fully commit to the FIP program (ii) how to put FIP in the context of a broader fisheries management and (iii) how to measure the effectiveness of FIP.

No less important, this workshop also discussed how the participants can continue to communicate in the future. So it was recommended to create communication forums such as a Facebook Group and meetings in Webinars. Jesse Marsh from Scalling Blue presented the idea of a platform to be the center of information on the progress of the implementation of FIP that can be found at www.fisheryprogress.org. Any parties/organizations implementing FIP can register and enter information on their achievements, so that every advance of the implementation of FIP can be traced and divided (Niomi).

NP