A digital route to market for small-scale fishers.

Story & Photos By Marta Calosso and John Claydon, Founders & Directors, FisherFolkFirst

Historically, the economy of the Turks & Caicos Islands was dependent on export fisheries: large seafood processing plants were supplied by free-diving fishers working from small boats catching conch, lobster, and fish. The country has since transformed into a luxury tourist destination, and although fisheries still persist, the focus is on domestic rather than export markets. Nonetheless, most seafood is now imported. Despite the number of wealthy and discerning visitors and residents, value-added markets for high quality, locally-caught seafood have not developed. In addition, the fleet, fishing methods, and work conditions have not modernized substantially for over 50 years. As a consequence, small-scale fishers are marginalized, and the historical supply chain model persists: most fishers continue to sell their landings to intermediaries rather than directly accessing customers for higher prices.

The “Know-Your-Fisherfolk” page on the FisherFolkFirst App displays profile pictures of fishers with separate tabs for South Caicos, Providenciales, and Grand Turk. The “Catch-of-the-Day” page shows the most recent photos and videos posted by fishers.

With little incentive to focus on quality, fishers tend to maximize the quantity of their landings, which further keeps prices low and impacts livelihoods. This dynamic can lead to a poverty trap that fishers find hard to escape. This situation is not unique to the TCI. Globally, small-scale fishers struggle to maximize returns from their landings because they cannot access higher value markets directly. Instead, out of necessity, they often sell their catch to intermediaries at lower prices. Therefore, overcoming these challenges and directly accessing markets further down the supply chain has the potential to increase fishers’ revenues substantially. 

To address these issues and to promote equity and social justice in the value chain, local non-profit organization FisherFolkFirst has developed an app to connect small-scale fishers directly to customers and bypass intermediaries. The FisherFolkFirst App gives fishers a platform to market themselves and the quality and freshness of their locally-caught seafood. It also provides an opportunity to monetize the low impact and inherently more sustainable way they fish compared to other countries in the region. The custom-made app was co-designed with fishers themselves through an iterative process: they tested the app, gave feedback, and their suggestions were immediately incorporated, and then tested on subsequent fishers. 

The app was designed to be as inclusive and accessible as possible, to accommodate fishers of all backgrounds, nationalities, and levels of digital literacy. The app can be used in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole, which are the main languages spoken by the fishing community in the TCI. 

John Claydon of FisherFolkFirst discusses the App and gets feedback from experienced fishers James Lockhart and Willis Jennings at the South Caicos fishing dock.

Fishers interact with the app exclusively through WhatsApp, which is a platform that most fishers already have on their phones and are comfortable using. Individual profiles are created by posting photos and videos and by sending voice messages that get transcribed through speech-to-text. Through the FisherFolkFirst App, fishers are able to showcase their unique stories: who they are, what they fish, how they fish, where they fish, how they handle their catch, and what makes their seafood higher quality or more sustainable. The app allows various levels of engagement, from serving as a simple online directory through which fishers can be contacted to being a real-time digital marketplace where landings are advertised and orders are placed. Every time fishers post photos and videos of their catch on WhatsApp, they get added to the fishers’ profiles and also to the “Catch-of-the-Day” page which displays the most recent posts. If potential customers are interested, they can click on the link and connect directly with the fisher through WhatsApp.

Lucy Frith, Providenciales fisherwoman, learns to use the FisherFolkFirst App with Marta Calosso, FisherFolkFirst.

Fishers appreciate the potential for the app to benefit their livelihoods and were proud to have their profiles visible online. They were very enthusiastic about an app that was tailor-made for them and guided by their feedback. This led to substantial improvements of the platform: for example, fishers suggested that the app could also be used to advertise fishing-related side businesses such as fisher-led eco-tourism experiences and fisher-owned restaurants serving their fresh catch. 

The app also solves another problem in the TCI. Ironically, for an island nation with a strong fishing heritage it is not easy to buy fresh, local seafood directly from fishers themselves, and getting in contact with fishers can be difficult. By using the FisherFolkFirst App, hotels, restaurants, private chefs, residents, and visitors alike can overcome these challenges.

To find out more and experience the best seafood in the TCI visit www.fisherfolkfirstapp.com.

FisherFolkFirst is a nonprofit organization registered in the TCI and strives for environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable small-scale fisheries where fisherfolk are empowered, coastal and marine environments are healthy, and where fisherfolk have secure prosperous futures.

To learn more about FisherFolkFirst or to support their work, please visit www.fisherfolkfirst.org or email in**@*************st.org. 

The FisherFolkFirst App was developed in collaboration with software engineers Adam Cockell and Anna Cockell from RobinForm. Adam is a former student of Marta Calosso and John Claydon at The School for Field Studies in South Caicos, where he spent a semester working alongside the fishing community in 2009. Adam approached FisherFolkFirst with a desire to use his skills to give back to the TCI and especially to the people of South Caicos.