Purina Europe's support for global bycatch mitigation

Once that decision was made, the next step was to find effective bycatch-mitigation projects and pledge Purina’s support to them. So the company asked SFP to help figure out where promising solutions were being implemented and how to connect to them. This conversation led to the joint realization that it would be very useful to have a global hub that consolidated bycatch-mitigation projects from around the world and connected them to the seafood industry. 

And thus the Bycatch Solutions Hub was born.

One of the biggest barriers to protecting endangered, threatened, and protected (ETP) species from being killed as bycatch in commercial fisheries is fragmented information. Companies want to help fix the problem, but they don’t know how or where to go to find solutions. 

With generous founding sponsorship from Purina Europe, SFP developed the Bycatch Solutions Hub to bridge the gap between innovation and action, by matching retailers and businesses that want to financially support projects to reduce bycatch with organizations capable of implementing in-the-water solutions.

In its first two years, the Hub facilitated nearly USD 800,000 of bycatch-mitigation efforts around the world, through more than 15 separate projects. And interest from seafood buyers continues to grow. Purina’s initial vision has even brought some of its major competitors onboard, including Mars, which is jointly funding a project with Purina in Chile through a pre-competitive collaboration worth nearly USD 100,000. 

Even as the Hub’s successes continue, Purina is still helping SFP look for ways to improve the site. A key challenge in bycatch mitigation is quantifying what impacts implementation of these solutions has on marine wildlife. Purina plans to support SFP in convening a workshop that will bring together scientists, NGOs, and other stakeholders to help figure out how to measure impact.