SFP – Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs)
Global
What is it?
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is a US-registered nonprofit that operates globally to rebuild depleted fish stocks and reduce the environmental and social impacts of fishing and fish farming. The organization works by engaging fishery stakeholders and seafood businesses throughout the supply chain to promote the sustainable production of seafood.
What is it?
SFP is a leader and innovator in launching and evaluating fishery improvement projects (FIPs), which bring together retailers, processors, producers, and fishers to demand and leverage better management of marine resources, by identifying environmental issues and implementing priority actions to address the root causes of fishery depletion.
SFP has been a strong proponent of industry leadership in fishery improvement efforts. Today, more than half of the world’s FIPs are industry-led.
A FIP Toolkit is available here.
SFP’s FIP Evaluation program and tool defines and assesses fishery improvement projects (FIPs) against six stages of achievement, including the development of the FIP structure (Stages 1 and 2), implementation (Stage 3), improvements (Stages 4 and 5), and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification (Stage 6).
Their FIP Progress Ratings system is the first and only methodology that applies time benchmarks to quickly understand the rate at which a fishery is improving and assign a related letter grade. Each FIP receives a rating, ranging from an “A” grade of Exceptional Progress to an “E” grade of Negligible Progress.
SFP’s FIP progress ratings are the lead metric on FisheryProgress.org, the online platform where FIPs are publicly reported and reviewed.
Ratings for all public FIPs that SFP is aware of are maintained and displayed in the FIPs section for all FishSource profiles linked to fishery improvement projects.
Their FIP progress ratings are also widely used by the seafood industry and factor into their decision-making. For example, some companies will only buy seafood from a FIP with a “C” grade or higher. In turn, this influences and drives further improvements in specific fisheries.