What is Value Rescue?
Value Rescue creates an economic incentive to reward and promote the fishing cooperatives’ environmental stewardship of fishery resources and social responsibility. This process:
Recovers value lost to poor practices in capture, post-harvest handling, logistics, and management processes by adopting procedures to improve quality, reduce waste, and enhance business operations.
Increases value retention by cooperatives by adding value through processing and by shortening value chains.
Incentivizes improved fishery management practices.
The Value Rescue Model (VRM) is a suite of trainings and tools designed to support fishing cooperatives in:
Improving the quality of their seafood products and adding value locally.
Strengthening the business capacities of their organizations.
Internalizing sustainable management measures for their fisheries.
Through these steps, cooperatives can differentiate their products and gain access to markets that reward the environmental and social values of their sustainable practices.
Implementation of the VRM involves a sequence of activities summarized below:
STAGES OF THE VRM
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An initial exploration of a cooperative to verify that the group meets the basic conditions to proceed with a Value Rescue project.
Using the Value Rescue Index (VRI), we analyze environmental performance, group organization, fishing and production processes, and commercial potential. If the VRI score is ≥50%, a more detailed assessment is conducted.
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This comprehensive review includes a fishing outing and interviews with a broad range of stakeholders to understand the cooperative’s internal organization, seafood production, and marketing capacity to identify opportunities for improvement. The findings guide the development of a detailed work plan co-designed with the cooperative.
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This is the core of the Value Rescue Model. The CAP focuses on supporting the cooperative to optimize fishing processes, post-harvest handling, processing, logistics, and business practices while exploring market opportunities for fisheries products.
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The final phase involves the cooperative fully adopting the new practices, enabling them to independently continue sustainable fishing and marketing processes.
Program Objectives
Our market-driven approach is based on three pillars:
01
Increasing supply of environmentally sustainable and socially responsible seafood in Mexico from small-scale producers.
02
Generating incentives for fishers involved in Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) or environmental and social certifications.
03
Managing fishery resources for current and future generations.
Ongoing Projects
Value Rescue projects in sustainable fishing take place in various states across Mexico. These initiatives reflect our commitment to strengthening local economies while conserving marine resources for future generations.
Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs)
Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) address social and environmental challenges within a fishery. They are carried out through multi-stakeholder collaborations involving fishers, buyers, government authorities, researchers, and civil society organizations.
FIPs leverage market power to incentivize positive changes within a fishery.
These projects aim to:
Identify and address environmental and social areas for improvement in the fishery.
Support fishery stakeholders in meeting internationally recognized standards.
Connect fishing communities with sustainable seafood buyers who seeks responsible products.
Fishery Improvement Projects Coordinated by SmartFish:
VRM Replication
Sharing the Value Rescue Model (VRM) with other organizations that support fisher groups allows us to scale-up our impact by transferring our know-how, tools, and experience.
By providing guidelines, protocols, and consulting services, we assist local organizations in replicating the VRM in the coastal communities where they work. This accelerates access to preferential markets and incentivizes the sustainable management of marine resources.
Program Achievements
Each action reflects our impact on sustainable fishing and the development of fishing communities:
people trained.
cooperatives are using a digital traceability system.
tons of seafood processed and sold in preferential markets.
Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) implemented.
pesos secured for new infrastructure and equipment for nine cooperatives (processing plants and receiving centers).
temporary jobs created in processing plants.
organizations trained in the Value Rescue Model methodology.
new processing plants owned by cooperatives.
Testimonials
“In this responsible fishing project, men are realizing that women play a crucial role in administration, fishing, processing, and every part of the operation.”
“We harvest far fewer resources, ensuring the future of our society and our seas. For me, that holds tremendous value.”
“With this project, we are showing new generations that it is possible to continue fishing and that together we can share the benefits.”
“The idea is to keep betting on sustainable fishing, like the Value Rescue projects by SmartFish, to learn how to care for our fishery resources and increase their value”
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