Future Fishers is a non-profit organisation which was established for the protection and conservation of the nation’s coastal and marine resources. This need exists because of the inadequate sector governance, poor management of the resources, weak social inclusion, increasing operating cost and the limited capacity of stakeholders.
The overall long-term goal is to create sustainable use and management of coastal and marine resources while improving the opportunities for better governance, economic growth and social advancement through an empowered fishing community.
In pursuing this goal, Future Fishers aims to empower the local stakeholders to understand the value and benefits of managing the coastal and marine resources sustainably. Hence, the core focus of Future Fishers’ approach is to create the development of sustainable businesses by instilling a sense of personal responsibility about the future impact of current decisions.
The concept of personal responsibility emphasises the way we think about building capacity, collaborating and collective decision making. Some fishers are of the view that responsible thinking towards actions is necessary for bringing about changes in the declining fishery and other natural and coastal assets.
The core focus of Future Fishers’ approach is to promote and treat fishing as a business. To this end it will use partnerships as a critical support strategy to assist fishers in building a level of capacity to improve collective thinking and actions and to see themselves as the true custodians of the coastal and marine environment.