This building block relates to an external and objective assessment of the fishery to a widely validated sustainability standard (in this case the MSC Fisheries Standard). Carrying out a pre-assessment generates a diagnosis of multiple aspects of the fishing operation, which permits to build a road map for the set of stakeholders involved in the fishery as regulators and direct users to improve each identified aspect. It facilitates the working agenda of each stakeholder in order to reach the common goal of fishing sustainability.
Based on this initial evaluation of the stone crab fishery, a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) has been designed and implemented with all interested parties. In this process, the necessary actions to reach the MSC's sustainability Standard have been scheduled over the next three years. This includes identifying responsibilities and sources of funds for the achievement of the activities.
- It is necessary to incorporate other institutions, such as NGOs, foundations, state development agencies and research organisations into the process, which will allow to catalyse the necessary actions to achieve the goals.
- Fluid communication between the stakeholders is important in order to plan join actions for common good.
- The MSC capacity building program offers a range of tools and training initiatives to help fisheries work towards sustainability and certification, including a pre-assessment template and a benchmarking tool.
The organizational capacity and level of commitment of the social group that will lead the solution is fundamental. A fragmented organisation will not achieve the commitments required for this solution.
Conducting sustainability training processes in the social group that heads the solution was crucial, since it generated a first-time confidence for the solution’s benefit.
The implementation of the solution is initially slow, since it is necessary to carry out convincing work for the different stakeholders, but as they visualize the improvements, the path becomes lighter and the advances are faster.