Sea-ing Borneo

The Problem

The fishermen are, in a way, our protector of the sea. The ones whose living depends on it. Working with the artisanal fishermen community, I believe that if they knew better on how to care for the sea and what it brings back to them, they would do all they can to do so. Had they knew that they could form up artificial reefs, focus more on supplying viable invasive species while working in a separate zone of catch area and breeding area, they might be able to tell that the common destructive fishing methods bring less food to the table. Mainly the artisanal coastal fishermen had already been affected badly by climate change and pollutions. Most of these fishermen practice destructive fishing methods which include poisoning, bombing, trawling nets, and overfishing. Will uniting them and providing them with skills, knowledge and attributes towards a sustainable goal make a small difference? The artisanal coastal fishermen are usually those who got left behind, either due to poverty or challenging environments. Their family depends on the sea bread-winner, even if the family had no interest in the sea and its welfare. Had we provide them a e-communal fairtrade platform to cut middlemen, to have a higher margin - had they tools to harvest fish with lesser manpower, to fish effectively, would they have more reasons to fish responsibly? Have we done enough to give us public citizens the rights to disallow them from sustaining their life by prohibiting them from overfishing?

Our Proposal

We have developed a low-cost tool for the fishermen to harvest fish from the sea; reducing manpower, the time required to harvest, increase productivity and profitability. We are leasing them for free, by acquiring corporate social responses from local and international companies to purchase these tools, under an agreement of cooperation between us, our stakeholders and the fishermen community. We are building the awareness and importance of sustainable fishing and how it can address their issues. These fishermen who had agreed on the condition are entitled to classes, workshops, lessons and more to either build their personal skills, maintain their tools, work on sustainable testing projects, record and analyse data, acquire marine science (e.g.: geolocations, breeds, sizes) informations and more. Those who have been ethical and cooperative would be allowed access into our currently developed platforms to store their fish in a low-cost cold room, for sales and direct trades with either local or international markets on fairtrade fishes dealt with responsibly by the source via online platform while working on the development of artificial reef farms and zoning areas for breeding (restriction zone) and for adult fishes (catch zone) to increase the productivity of fish growth within the coastal area.

We Assume that...

We assume that now that more fishermen want the tool, the higher their commitment towards cooperating with us to achieve a common rational and sustainable goal.

The more the fishermen are aware of sustainable goals, the clearer the results they see from the experiments, the more optimistic they will be to strive to earn the results.

We assume that if there are no middlemen in the fishing trade between the suppliers (fishermen) and the customers, the higher the profit margin they earn.

We assume that the higher the quality of life of these fishermen, the more responsible and educated they would become when it comes to managing the sea.

We assume that the more we engage with the fishermen, the more we know about the sea.

We assume that the more tools and platform we provide to them, it would be one way to combat sustainability issues of the sea.

We assume that the better the quality control of fish supplies, the higher the profit margin earned by these suppliers.

We assume that the louder we are, the more the enforcers and policymakers would play their roles in managing these obstacles.

We assume that developing the interest in engineering towards the fishermen community via our project developments would empower them to engineer their own community needs.

The more the customers are aware of the fairtrade, the ethical sustainable practice and the support they are engaging with, the higher the margin.

Constraints to Overcome

Proof-of-concept, scientific developers and researchers engagement, public relations and media, political, environmental, cultural and social suitability, efficacy and function, engineering design and mass communications.

Current Work

20 - 200 fishermen united, all across Borneo and Malaysia waters, including Brunei and neighbouring countries, where possible. Successfully build trust with these fishermen to acquire 10-30% of their general harvest for online trading. 100 - 5000 customers, successfully brand and communicate business values in online trading platform. Zero wastage supply chain management Low cost cold room successfully delivered and manage to increase lifespan of fish supplies 2 - 10 logistic partners local and international 20 pax of net-hoist winch tool produced, installed and used Data from 20 fishermen acquired in terms of fish locations, size, maturity and others Collaboration with 2 reef farmers and marine social projects. Acquire funds and supports up to RM200,000 to run the project for a year

Current Needs

I'd like to collaborate with engineers to come up with methods to produce lower costs and functional tools to ease the burden of coastal fishermen. I'd like to expose my team to international standards and commitments, to be motivated by professionals who believes in this idea. I'd like to acquire some funds to sustain our rental fees and living fees of the company. I'd like to acquire trainings in dealing with governments, politics, corporates, and the mentioned stakeholders.