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History of the Community Fisheries Network

The privatization of fisheries resources began more than 25 years ago in Alaska. As more fisheries become privatized, similar effects have become apparent in harbors around the United States. When the value and quantity of quota increase, the cost of fishing permits rises, and people are less able to afford to enter the fishery. Also, those who participate in the fishery must pay the costs of monitoring and administering the new management system.

For owner/operator small-boat fishermen, this has become a serious challenge, as they – like all small businesses – are hit hardest by regulations that call for one-size-fits-all adjustments. In 2009, as fishermen reached out beyond their own harbors to other small community-based fishing ports around the country, Ecotrust, a nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon, and the Island Institute, a nonprofit based in Rockland, Maine, developed the concept of a Community Fisheries Network that would bring together highline fishermen/community leaders from eight small ports to help develop their own solutions to these challenges.

During 2009 and 2010, the Island Institute and Ecotrust provided support for community-based fisheries organizations from the West Coast and East Coast to meet with each other. Starting in 2011, with support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Fisheries Innovation Fund and private foundations, Ecotrust and the Island Institute were able to provide an increased level of direct technical assistance and support to community fisheries groups, and to convene participants in a more formalized Community Fisheries Network.

Ecotrust and the Institute provide technical assistance in the areas of business-plan development, organizational capacity-building, communications and marketing, combined with an exploration of available local resources, such as the Senior Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE). In September 2011, leaders from 12 community fishing organizations came together at the second annual CFN meeting hosted by the San Diego Fishermen's Working Group. With continued facilitation and assistance from Ecotrust and the Island Institute, the two co-conveners, one supporting member organizations, CFN members are now actively exchanging ideas and sharing successful strategies, as well as challenges, on a regularly scheduled basis. The group has developed a set of triple-bottom (environmental, social and economic) sustainability standards that all CFN members have agreed to adopt. To see an outline of the Sustainability Standards, click here.