World Wildlife Fund, in collaboration with Finance Earth and corporate partners, has been working to develop the concept for an innovative blue finance mechanism – the Fisheries Improvement Fund – with the aim of reversing the global trend of fisheries decline. Sustainable finance is critical to scaling the transition towards more sustainable fisheries; we need new models that are efficient, equitable, and cost effective for key stakeholders. Join us to hear about the launch of this new fund model. Industry collaborators in this initiative include major feed companies Cargill Inc., Skretting, and BioMar Group, who are engaging extensively in the conceptual development and launch of the model. In addition, the initiative is supported by large-scale seafood buyers Costco Wholesale, Walmart through Walmart Foundation, and Mars Incorporated; all of whom are WWF partners in driving more sustainable seafood production globally and directly backing-up fishery improvement projects. They consider this initiative critical to scaling fisheries improvement globally in an efficient and effective manner.

At the heart of the initiative is the increasingly compelling case for companies to embed the cost of sustainability and resource viability into their business models. The participating companies are working with WWF and Finance Earth to test this concept and create a financing mechanism for fisheries improvement that is equitable and embeds the cost of sustainability into the costs of doing business.