On the supply side, the non-profit SmartFish NGO screens and then partners with artisanal fishing cooperatives (co-ops) with strong institutional capacity such as leadership and administrative structures. We ‘incubate’ them, professionalizing, and bringing in line with international standards, all aspects of their businesses across the three sustainability dimensions – environmental, social and economic. As a result, these co-ops produce higher-quality seafood that’s also more responsibly caught, more sustainable and also food-safety certified.

“We believe that this presentation will help give rise to thousands of Afghan “Mollys” in the years ahead – talented, confident, compassionate, positive, and emotionally secure Afghan children who will grow into the nation’s future doctors, educators, lawyers, and leaders, a tremendous resource for Afghanistan and a lasting tribute to the impact that passionate philanthropic organisations – Afghan and Australian – can achieve in the near and medium-term despite the daily challenges in our nation today.”

“Australians are increasingly aware of the need to protect our ocean from unsustainable fishing and want better information about the seafood on offer, so they can be confident in their purchase,” Ms Harrison said. “Consumers would be surprised with these findings given that per cent of the seafood we consume is imported. We know from previous research that consumers assume the checks and balances have already been done before the point of sale.”

SmartFish Inc., the business side, sells their catch into more profitable markets, rewarding fishers like Porfirio for their more responsible fishing and incentivizing them to further improve their performance. Core to SmartFish Inc’s model are shorter supply chains, rigorous sourcing policies, comprehensive traceability systems and full transparency, including open-book’ negotiations. Unfortunately, these basic approaches are lamentably unusual in the extremely opaque seafood sector.

Rashid Sumaila’s research focuses on bioeconomics, marine ecosystem valuation and the analysis of global issues such as fisheries subsidies, marine protected areas, illegal fishing, climate change, marine plastic pollution, and oil spills. Rashid has experience working in fisheries and natural resource projects in Norway, Canada and the North Atlantic region, Namibia and the Southern African region, Ghana and the West African region and Hong Kong and the South China Sea. Dr. Sumaila received his Ph.D. (Economics) from the University of Bergen and his B.Sc. (Quantity Surveying) from the Ahmadu Bello University. He won the Volvo Environment Prize and was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in .