Fisher Communities Adapt To New Realities

Dr Serge Raemaekers, managing director of ABALOBI ICT4FISHERIES, shares how seafood supply chains are adapting to new realities and highlights the social enterprise’s transition to a multi-channel marketplace.

- Dr Serge Raemaekers And The Abalobi Team

“Closed until further notice: COVID-19.” This common headline, seen on the news and social media since March has been linked to the restaurant and hospitality industry of many cities, Cape Town included. Closed restaurants also resulted in closed supply chains for hundreds of small-scale fishers in the Western Cape.

ABALOBI ICT4FISHERIES is an African based, fisher-driven social enterprise with global reach. Our mobile app suite and programmes include electronic catch documentation and traceability platform, a marketplace for seafood with a story, and an integrated digital transactional system.

We work with small-scale fishers on the human-centered design of this platform and undertake capacity building towards community entrepreneurship and improved safety at sea. We also operate the ABALOBI MARKETPLACE with fishers and their partner organizations to achieve transparent, equitable and responsible supply chains. The intention is to catalyse the improvement of small scale fisheries and the management of sustainable fisheries.

Over the past two years, we have worked with fisher communities and chefs to build a program whereby fisher communities can directly supply restaurants with fresh, premium-quality local catches of the day. This happens through a digital marketplace. The program has been successful and grown very rapidly as both fishers and chefs have recognized the value of short, local and traceable supply chains, as well as the need to develop a market appetite for lesser-known, undervalued species.