A new fund has been launched to help Peruvian fishers develop and implement sustainable fishing practices.
At present, access to finance is limited for new artisanal fishers in Peru because of a lack of credit history or collateral to back up loans. This keeps fishers from formalising their status, and pushes up instances of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
To combat this, Future of Fish has partnered with Caja Sullana, one of Peru’s main lenders, to create the Artisanal Fisher Development Fund to help fishers access credit. It will be rolled out over the next two years.
“This loan guarantee fund represents an innovative approach to support fishers in managing the transition from informal to formal and thus from IUU to legal fishing,” said Peter Battisti, executive director, Future of Fish.
“The combination of capacity building to support better administration to unlock pilots that support better business practices that can result in increased profitability can help demonstrate that there is a business case to be made to incentivise more responsible production, both in Peru and globally.”
In addition to co-managing the fund, Future of Fish Peru will provide financial literacy support to loan recipients, from loan application through to full repayment.
The fund is possible thanks to philanthropic contributions from the Walton Family Foundation and has been co-designed with local partners.
The goal of the pilot stage is to demonstrate the economic benefits to fishers who formalise their status and engage in sustainable practices.
The pilot is on track to make its first loans later this year to coincide with the opening of the mahi mahi season beginning on 1 October.
