Thinking Outside the Fishbox: Innovative Ideas for Overcoming the Challenges Fishermen Face Selling their Catch from Boat-to-Fork by Daniella Williams Dr. Lisa Campbell, Adviser May 2017 Masters project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Environmental Management degree in the Nicholas School of the Environment of Duke University 1 Innovative Ideas for Overcoming the Challenges Fishermen Face Selling their Catch from Boat-to-Fork EXECUTIVE SUMMARY One rapidly growing approach to support both healthy fisheries and fishing communities is the promotion of local seafood, via direct marketing arrangements such as Community Supported Fisheries (CSF). CSFs are a strategy based on the Community Supported Agriculture model in which fishermen sell their catch directly to consumers. In this study, previously identified barriers impeding the growth and long-term economic sustainability of these systems are ranked through pairwise comparison of discrete choices undertaken by members of the LocalCatch.org network. The resulting top 5 barriers are: (1) Gaining access to processing, storage, and/or markets. (2) Setting prices for catch that are fair to both fishermen and customers. (3) Balancing the extra time and energy required for marketing with the need to leave flexibility for good fishing days or doing other things. (4) Creating the most value for product after accounting for the costs of distribution, processing, and coordination. (5) Selling catch to institutions such as hospitals and schools. This study aims to facilitate innovative problem solving to identified top barriers by soliciting solution proposals from a variety of disciplines, to be unconstrained by the experiences, histories and understanding of those presently immersed in fisheries. I identified speakers through a combination of solution proposal selection and individual solicitation. Two open call participants were selected to share their pitches based on the feasibility and direct application of the proposal to identified barriers. I selected speakers for the remaining barriers based on their specific expertise and current role in food systems. All speakers were non-fishermen, and only one speaker is currently involved in running an alternative marketing arrangement. Each speaker presented their pitch to the LocalCatch.org network via a webinar in April 2017 as a first step in moving past these barriers towards the further sustainable economic growth of alternative marketing arrangements. Stephanie Webb, a second-year PhD student at University of California Santa Cruz was the first presenter, discussing a Customer Relationship Model designed specifically for seafood. Ruud Bronkhorst, a rural development ecologist for Info Bridge, discussed how to calculate a fair price using living wages with resources found online. Stephanie Devine, owner of 2 Innovative Ideas for Overcoming the Challenges Fishermen Face Selling their Catch from Boat-to-Fork Seaforth Fish Company and long-time entrepreneur in ecommerce, discussed marketing techniques and tools for alternative marketing arrangements. Katy Hladki, the sustainability manager for High Liner Foods, the largest value-added seafood processor in North America, discussed overarching consumer trends seen in the seafood industry. Lastly, Stacey Purslow, a project coordinator for New Hampshire Farm to Institution, discussed some of the successes and challenges of selling seafood to larger institutions such as schools. The April webinar was recorded and made available as a resource on the LocalCatch.org website, with contact information listed for speakers. Following the webinar I collected feedback from attendees, with results indicating that the techniques, resources and ideas presented will be utilized by attendees in the future. Attendees also showed interest in reaching out to four of the five speakers directly for further information. By providing contact information for speakers, this project hopes to further connections for the LocalCatch.org network and move solutions forward to next steps, from conception to implementation. 3 Innovative Ideas for Overcoming the Challenges Fishermen Face Selling their Catch from Boat-to-Fork TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary ……………………………………..……………………………………… 2 Introduction …………..……………………………………...…………………………...………… 5 Context …………..……………………………………………………………………………………. 6 I. History of Fisheries …………………………………………………………………………….. 6 II. Alternative Marketing Arrangements …………………………………….……………….. 7 III. Entrepreneurship ………………………………………..…………………………………… 10 IV. Innovation …………………………………….…………………….…………………………. 11 Methods …………..……………………………………………………………………..…..……... 13 I. Idea Conception ……………………….………………………………………..…………… 13 II. Barrier Identification …………………………………….………………………………….. 14 III. Survey …………………………………….………………………………………..…..……… 20 IV. Search for Innovative Ideas …………………………………….…………………………. 21 V. Collecting Feedback ………….………………………………….………………………….. 23 Results …………..……………………………………………….…………………………………… 23 I. Top-Ranked Barriers ….……………….…………………………………………..………… 23 II. Proposed Solutions …………………………………….……………………………………. 24 III. Feedback …………………………………….……………………………………….……….. 30 Discussion …………..………………………………………………………………………………. 30 I. Ties to Context …………………………………….…………………………………........... 30 II. Reflections and Limitations …………………………………….…………………………… 32 III. Recommendations for Future Work …………………………………….………………… 34 Acknowledgements …………..………………………….…………………………………… 35 References …………..………………………………………………………………..……………. 36 Appendices …………..…………………………………………………………….……………… 39 I. Appendix A. Draft Value Map …………………………………….……………………… 39 II. Appendix B. Comparison of Paper, Draft Map, and 2012 Summit ………………. 40 III. Appendix C. Survey Consent …………………………………….……………………….. 42 IV. Appendix D. Barrier Ranking Survey …………………………………….……………… 43 V. Appendix E. Survey Statistics …………………………………….…………………..…… 55 VI. Appendix F. Open Call …………………………………………………………..………… 56 VII. Appendix G. Feedback Questionnaire …………………………………….……………. 59 4 Innovative Ideas for Overcoming the Challenges Fishermen Face Selling their Catch from Boat-to-Fork INTRODUCTION Fishing communities face a variety of challenges, ranging from loss of access to marine resources, to declining wages, and competition from imported seafood. One approach to supporting healthy fisheries and fishing communities is the promotion of local seafood through community supported fisheries (CSFs), in which fishermen sell their catch directly to consumers (Brinson et al., 2011). In recent years, arrangements where fishers sell catch more directly to consumers have grown rapidly within North America, yet there are barriers impeding the growth and long-term economic sustainability of these systems (Witter and Stoll, 2016). Identification of these barriers has been a topic of recent research for Bolton et al. (2016) and Witter and Stoll (2016). Fishermen discussed these pressing barriers with LocalCatch.org network members at the 2016 Local Seafood Summit that took place in Norfolk, VA. This project aims to build on that work, focusing on determining if an innovative, atypical approach can offer solutions to these barriers, particularly those ranked highest by members of the LocalCatch.org network. This network consists of fishermen, researchers, consumers and organizers engaged in local and direct marketing of sustainable seafood (LocalCatch.org). This project applies the philosophy that people with distance from problems are less constrained in the way they imagine solutions than those who are embedded in them (Poetz, et al. 2014), through solicitation of creative ideas from individuals not directly involved in fisheries. This outward facing approach aims to facilitate innovative thinking unconstrained by the experiences, histories, knowledge and understanding of those presently immersed in fisheries. However, in some cases, providing solutions to specific barriers may require specialized knowledge of local seafood marketing. In collaboration with LocalCatch.org, the objective of this project is to both foster innovation in seafood distribution, and to provide a 5 Innovative Ideas for Overcoming the Challenges Fishermen Face Selling their Catch from Boat-to-Fork resource to fishers in moving past barriers to growth, contributing to the long-term sustainability of these alternative marketing arrangements. CONTEXT This section provides some necessary background and context of the conditions within fisheries that has led to the creation of alternative seafood marketing arrangements. From there, I will explain general entrepreneurship models to provide a better understanding of how the specific barriers mentioned in this project have emerged. Then, I will describe the theories of innovation applicable to this project to highlight the role further innovation can have within these already innovative alternatives to traditional seafood supply chains. I. History of Fisheries Operations Fishing is a very risky business, in terms of work-related fatalities and through highly variable income. Regulations coupled with the integration of global seafood markets and altered geographic ranges of fisheries due to climate change have increased the volatility of this industry (Kasperski and Holland, 2013). To reduce income risk, researchers recommend that fishermen diversify their portfolio (Kasperski and Holland, 2013) or their distribution systems. Both opportunities provide fishery stakeholders a way to withstand unanticipated economic and ecological challenges, without relying