Once SmartFish NGO determines that a fishery is a candidate for our Value Rescue model, we carry out a detailed diagnostic of the fishery’s current triple impact, and potential to attain the four dimensions of the Value Rescue model:
1) Environmental performance and the possibility to attain a third-party certification or to implement a fisheries improvement plan (FIP) that meet certification criteria;
2) Social performance - degree of organization of the cooperative or enterprise, including the degree of participation in and effectiveness of decision-making structures and the possibility of including other community members, especially women in the value-rescue process;
3) Business performance of the group, including both production and sales/marketing;
4) Potential social, environmental and economic impact of an intervention.
We created an Impact Division within SmartFish AC to develop the tools to conduct these evaluations and also to carry them out. For environmental and social performance we draw heavily on exisiting standards including MSC and FairTrade. For enterprise performance we merged assorted standards.
Ensuring confidentiality of data and analyses has been key. Regular reporting of the same to fisher partners has also proved to be very useful for them to identify opportunities.