MarFishEco

We Are

MarFishEco

Fisheries Consultants

A trusted source of objective advice and support for the future of sustainable, profitable fisheries.
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Understanding your role in the fisheries supply chain whilst operating productively and sustainably can only be achieved through good program development, implementation, and ongoing assessment.

At MarFishEco we pride ourselves on being able to help clients better understand the business impacts of their current activities based on clearly, pre-defined criteria. This can include supply chain efficiencies, return on investments of new technologies or how current practices match up with sustainability standards. We often take a simple counterfactual approach in which we make comparisons between what actually happens and “what would happen if” scenarios. Additionally, we are frequently asked to perform in-depth SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analyses and risk assessments to help guide clients towards a competitive edge by removing, minimizing or mitigating potential obstacles in their path to success. In this way, we help our clients make important decisions when it comes to their current expenditures, future investments, product portfolios etc, and how well they achieve either their own and / or externally imposed targets. For new technologies, processes or products, we help develop and implement projects with clear metrics to help clients easily assess where room for improvement may lie. The MFE team can help you design new monitoring protocols, analyze your data, provide periodic / mid-term performance reviews and plan strategy documentation for investors and stakeholders alike. Whether it is in person field visits or remote consultation, MFE has considerable experience undertaking monitoring and evaluation projects of varied sizes from single fisher projects through to international enterprises.

Collecting and processing your numbers correctly is key to your ability to better predict future outcomes and ensure best practice approaches.

The team at MarFishEco are well versed in a suite of different analytical methods that prove useful across the fisheries supply chain. Correctly identifying the causal relationships between factors that impact fisheries productivity such as environmental variability, gear design or market productivity is essential to help you better design and direct future interventions. The ability to accurately model different management scenarios such as timed closures, catch quotas and spatial management tools such as marine protected areas can help fisheries stakeholders better understand how their actions will impact their revenues and the ecological sustainability of the stocks they fish. Testing ideas numerically before implementation often saves time, revenues and relationships by providing stakeholders with potential future scenarios based on different changes in practice. Techniques we employ to help our clients make the most of their data include time series analysis and parametric statistics, catch reconstructions and dynamic empirical and Bayesian modeling – all of which have their part to play in understanding and planning for more sustainable fisheries. The MFE team is able to help you improve in-house data collection protocols, understand your numbers in a timely manner and model your ideas before implementation. Through our custom analytics, we make the transition from planning to implementation a smooth, efficient and successful one.

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing plays a large role at many levels of the fisheries supply chain. Monitoring and understanding its impacts is important to help you avoid interactions with fraudulent activity and unsustainable practices.

MarFishEco has extensive experience in working with fisheries Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS). This includes the evaluation of monitoring systems, the analysis of data from these systems and providing recommendations to government and international bodies on how to better measure fishing activities both in small- and large-scale fleets. We understand the economics of implementing new monitoring technologies as we do the importance of collecting the right data for vessel owners, management organizations and governments. One common hurdle to the implementation of monitoring equipment or upgrades is the unknown related to returns on investment / cost efficiencies – i.e. are your investments going to give you what you want? For that reason, in consultation with our clients, we often design deployment strategies based on economic efficiencies as well as fleet coverage to ensure investments yield the right type and the correct amount of data that can be used to inform business and policy to high levels of accuracy. For new technologies we produce Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for even them most complex monitoring and data collection systems as well as workflows for in-house data analysis. We also advise on data feeds to run through business intelligence softwares to provide near real-time analytics. We can help you calculate the correct benchmarks to work towards based on your business needs and those of the management organizations under which you may operate whilst advising on the most appropriate technologies for your needs whether it be onboard observers, Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS), Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM), the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors across the supply chain or blockchain distributed ledger technologies for traceability, data protection, and fraud prevention. We can assess your current situation, your desired destination and help recommend how to pave an efficient way between the two when it comes to MCS and reducing IUU.

Fisheries governance involves the social, legal, economic and political arrangements within fisheries management. By understanding each and the roles these play, it is much easier to strive for good governance that satisfies you and all of your stakeholders.  

Much of MarFishEco’s work is helping clients understand the complexities within fishing operations. Whether it is predicting the impact of new gear measures or deciphering what new management measures or legal frameworks mean, we take a structured and robust approach when it comes to collecting, interpreting and disseminating this information for our clients. Often before new management or policy measures are proposed or put into place, the MFE team is tasked with writing company or country briefs that explain current states and the potential scenarios once new interventions are put in place. This helps a client move forward in an economically realistic and sustainable way whilst upholding new rulings pertaining to their operations. Our analyses include:

  • Techno-economic assessments and fishery performance evaluations that also advise on investment opportunities and potential pitfalls,
  • Trade policy integrated with market analysis to help navigate changes in trade whilst scoping continued or new and profitable market opportunities,
  • Value chain analysis (VCA) to provide clients with strategic management insight on their internal business functions and efficiencies to help uncover where competitive advantages and disadvantages lie,
  • Gap analysis comparing actual performance and desired performance based on past, present and future governance scenarios.
  • Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to estimate the strengths and weaknesses of new investments and directions within your business.
  • Critical assessments using text mining and topic modeling to provide advice on issues related to policy failures.

Many of these projects often culminate in formal risk assessments that help our clients identify, quantify and manage risk to make informed decisions for how best to maintain their operations whilst fulfilling best practices in a dynamic industry. These reports often form the foundation of larger strategic management plans, company synopsis reports and ecosystem-based marine management guidelines (EBMM).

Accreditation and certification are now important components in the move towards sustainable fisheries supply chains. The processes involved with these schemes, however, do not exist without their own pitfalls which is why it is important for you to know how they can benefit or hinder your operations and those of your stakeholders.

Economic growth needs to be coupled to environmental sustainability which is why at MarFishEco we invest considerable efforts to help our clients understand the complexities of their supply chains and how certification will benefit both their returns and their corporate responsibilities. Our knowledge of certification and traceability spans a range of different fishery and chain of custody certifications and initiatives and we are often asked to engage with fishery assessments as private consultants and through public comments and stakeholder workshops. Our in-depth knowledge of fishery supply-chain structure means we are adept at running traceability exercises and assessments as well as evaluating the sustainability of your business practices, both from an environmental and financial perspective. We are often asked to run supplier audits as well as private due diligence missions for clients interested in investing in new technologies or fisheries businesses. Our consultations help clients to better understand the path to fishery-based mergers, acquisitions, and liquidations. With increasingly complex global trade networks comes the need for better technology development and implementation. For this reason, MFE is a leader advising in new data collection technologies and the design of custom applications to help businesses, governments and NGOs collect the correct data at the right scales. We are particularly well versed in apply technologies to data-poor, remote and developing fishery situations. Following a number of certification and supply chain assessments, we have been asked to work with clients to produce in-depth market analyses and go to market strategies.

Many of the challenges in fisheries today revolve around satisfying different stakeholder groups along increasingly complex supply chains. In addition, these supply chains often spread between developing and developed nations. It is therefore important to understand the impacts of your fishery operations as well as the resources and technologies available to improve your environmental sustainability, economic growth and the social wellbeing of the many stakeholders along the supply chain.

The diverse experience within the MarFishEco team lends itself well to capacity-building efforts, particularly when multi-stakeholder research and development programs are involved. Such efforts may range from single business workshops to NGO round tables to government working groups. Our experience in capacity building efforts include:

  • productivity analyses from sea to plate for business conglomerates,
  • the development of data-poor assessment methods including bycatch risk and mitigation, and fishing effort calculations,
  • Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) analyses, training, and workshops and
  • Blue growth assessments and strategic plans.

We have helped partners in the NGO and government sector lay the foundation to self-sustaining programs that can build their own funding portfolios, train their own specialists and successfully implement environmentally conscious change. We are therefore familiar with many of the large agency data collection, privacy and security frameworks (including the UN’s framework for collating scientific information and the European Commission’s international cooperation and development standards).

What is

MFE

MarFishEco (MFE) is a network of senior fishery professionals with experience in over 25 countries, helping to formulate and implement viable and practicable sustainability solutions across fishery sectors.

By blending expert knowledge from ecology, economics, social science, and policy we provide our clients with objective, expert fisheries analysis, advice and reporting for holistic and sustainable growth. We are an agile consultancy relied upon for our academic vigor, able to keep up to date against different and often shifting policy backdrops, distilling complexity into digestible content for all target stakeholder audiences.

At MFE, we are passionate about bringing people, science, and ideas together to remove technological and communication barriers so results can be translated directly to policy and management environments – making real change happen. MFE accelerates transformations towards ecologically sustainable, economically viable and socially just fisheries futures.

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Testimonials

We contracted MarFishEco to undertake a study on the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy external dimensions and best practices. The purpose of the study was to take stock of the effectiveness of EU implementation of the rules on ensuring legal, sustainable and equitable fisheries in its fishing activity outside EU waters and thus its contribution to the achievement of relevant SDGs. The report contributed to the wider Fish Forward II project. Working with Andrew was an easy and efficient experience. Clear timelines were set out at each stage of the project for a seamless delivery of a high-quality report. I happily recommend working with MarFishEco, a trustworthy and responsive fisheries consultancy that produces rigorous, impactful and communicable outputs.

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Rhona Kent , Fisheries Policy Officer

Working with MarFishEco was an absolute pleasure. The team generated highly-technical comments on potential fisheries impacts from offshore wind development in California in an exceedingly short timeframe. Andrew was inquisitive, pro-active, and incredibly responsive to feedback and follow-up questions. Not only did MarFishEco deliver scientific expertise, they were a delight to work with, advancing the project cheerfully and professionally. I look forward to working with MarFishEco again.

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Sandy Aylesworth , Oceans advocate, Pacific Ocean Initiative, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

MarFishEco worked with FAO and INFOPESCA on a fish landing site diversification project in 2018. During this assignment, Andrew showed his interest and knowledge in marine fisheries issues, including infrastructure needs, by addressing the needs of stakeholders and fishers. I was particularly impressed by his innovative actions regarding information and data collection, and the very logical way of presenting the information at the projects final multi-stakeholder workshop. I hope to work with Andrew again in the future when we develop the work further.

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Helga Josupeit , Senior Fisheries Officer retired, FAO, Rome Italy

We contracted MarFishEco to produce an analysis of the current state of marine tourism activities in Mexico and to develop a fisheries analysis. Hiring them was a great decision, the team organized a meeting with our internal staff, developed a timeline and clear deliverables and then got to work quickly and efficiently. MFE produced excellent, comprehensive economic analyses and went above and beyond with this work. They have subsequently produced 2 peer-review papers which have benefited our outreach and funding streams immensely.

Mariana Walther Mendoza , Gulf of California Coordinator, The Nature Conservancy, Mexico

Working with Andrew and the MarfFishEco team was a great experience. In collaboration with our in-house team, MFE was tasked with reviewing the current state of best practices in fisheries gear trials and helping to organize a stakeholder workshop to discuss the formation of best practice guidelines. Following the report MFE produced for us, we contracted them a gain to help develop an online tool that can be used to calculate the financial consequences of changing or modifying fishing gears. Both the report and the tool are of an excellent quality and exactly what we were looking for. I look forward to collaborating with the MFE team again in the near future.

Hazel Curtis , Chief Economist / Interim Director of Corporate Relations, Seafish Industry Authority, United Kingdom

We had the pleasure to work with MarFishEco as part of the revision of the Capture Fisheries Standard (CFS). MFE did a deep dive into the Resource Management section of Fair Trade USA’s fisheries standard, focusing on identifying ways to improve the requirements around governance, overfishing, and data collection. Additionally, MFE evaluated how to expand the scope of applicability of the CFS to include freshwater fisheries, and additional considerations for enhanced fisheries. Their recommendations and final report were key to finalizing the Draft CFS for public consultation.

Working with MFE was great. They were efficient, very thorough in their reviews, and went above and beyond what was asked to make sure the deliverables were exactly what we were looking for. I look forward to working with MFE again on future projects!

Juliana Herrera , Seafood Standards Manager, Fair Trade USA

China Dialogue Trust commissioned MarFishEco to write a report examining the editorial outputs of a two-year project on sustainable seafood. Andrew analysed a large collection of articles, web statistics and workshop events to provide an objective assessment of our reporting efforts and how these explain China’s role in the global ocean. There was clear planning and communication of objectives from the start. Andrew was fast and extremely communicative, enjoyable to work with and committed himself to delivering against a really tight schedule. He provided direction where necessary and was also totally open to any feedback or changes. His knowledge of the fishing industry, policy and governance was a big asset and greatly added to the quality of the report.

Jessica Aldred , Special Projects Editor, China Dialogue