Case studies

​Improving management of the small pelagic fishery in Ecuador, demonstrating sustainability and becoming eligible to join MarinTrust’s Improver Programme (IP), all featured strongly in the reasons for a group of companies agreeing to participate in a fishery improvement project (FIP) for small pelagic resources group in 2018. In total, 16 Ecuadorean fishing and processing firms, two traders and four international feed producers signed up to take collaborative action.

The FIP was set up as a partnership between the Mauritanian fishery authority, the Mauritanian oceanographic and fisheries research institute (IMROP), local businesses, and international fishmeal and fish oil buyers.

The need to address environmental and social issues in the Thai fishmeal industry has led via a complex journey, to a well-subscribed Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) in the Gulf of Thailand and to the fishery applying to join the MarinTrust (formerly IFFO RS) Improver Programme.

The story begins around 7 years ago with pressure from a fast-developing shrimp industry, which was struggling to answer the concerns of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) about the sustainability of its feed.