The Walton Family Foundation (WFF), started by Walmart founders Sam and Helen Walton, listed the five countries it will prioritize to build sustainable seafood markets as part of a five-year strategy announced last week during SeaWeb’s Seafood Summit.
WFF is investing $36.6 million (€32.7 million) through 2020 to support these initiatives.
Its 2016-2020 ocean strategy uses a systems approach on the supply and demand side in five core countries: Indonesia, Peru, Chile, Mexico and the United States. This systems approach includes:
- Empowering fishermen and local communities through rights-based management approaches that provide them with secure tenure rights;
- Making science-based decisions about annual catch limits, habitat protection and timelines for rebuilding fish stocks;
- Building capacity for fishermen, governments and civil society;
- Reforming public policies to create positive incentives that encourage responsible fishing; and
- Harnessing the market for sustainable seafood to build demand for healthy fisheries practices.
"The WFF seafood markets strategy focuses on creating sustainability incentives to increase demand where it matters most -- in the US, Japan and Spain. WFF’s approach aims to encourage the seafood industry to make investments -- of money, time, staffing and brainpower -- that raise incomes and improve the quality of life for individual fishermen and fishing communities in the four target countries."
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