April 2015

Since certification was announced for 4 Fishers Associations last October, our Fair Trade team has been busy working closely with the fishermen and suppliers to implement continuous improvements, as part of the Fair Trade program.

New Fishers Associations

Since December 2014, six new Fishermen Associations were formed in North Buru Island and 7 fishers associations were formed in South Buru Islands. Each new association will have a representative in the Buru Fair Trade Committee, formed in June 2014.  The Buru Fair Trade Committee will then represent 14 Fishermen Associations and 261 fishermen.

Fishermen based on the island of Seram have also been added to the program, with the formation of 3 fishermen associations in April 2015.

A workshop was conducted in Toli-Toli (North Sulawesi) to introduce the Fair Trade program to local fishermen and suppliers. Local government representatives were also present and expressed their support to the program. Learn more about the workshop here.

The addition of these new fishermen associations adds 306 fishermen to the Fair Trade program bringing the total number of fishermen in the program to 410.

Map of Fair Trade sites
[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=z2tX-j8tzUx8.kU4krDP4w9rA&w=640&h=480]

Premiums

The first premiums were received by both Fair Trade committees: Assilulu and Buru Fair Trade Committees. After the low fishing season, from November to March, fishermen have just started going out to sea in March and will continue receiving the Fair Trade premium throughout the fishing season. To learn more about how the Fair Trade premium works click here.