Selection Reason
This project successfully developed commercially viable products from fish that had to be culled, which previously had no use and was mostly discarded. The project takes an integrated approach spanning processing, product development and sales-channel development. It also creates a new food culture and business opportunities, connecting urban markets with fisheries producers. As marine environments continue to change, the selection panel hopes that the project develops further as a model for the sustainable use of species that traditionally have less commercial value, taking their stock health into account.

Farmer You collaborates with producers, restaurants and local governments to co-develop commercially viable projects that address local food and environmental challenges.
Overgrazing by the mottled spinefoot (Siganus fuscescens), a species of little commercial value, is considered a cause of algal- and seagrass-bed loss around Tsushima, a group of small islands in Nagasaki Prefecture. The red stingray (Hemitrygon akajei) damages fishing gear and has often been culled by fishers operating in the Tokyo Bay, mostly to be discarded as the commercial demand is very limited. Seeing potential in these species, the project collaboratively turns them into commercially valuable seafood products: catch is collected from local fishers and processed at a centralized hub, while Farmer You coordinates business planning, product development and sales-channel development.
Mottled spinefoot is locally called “bari” in the Tsushima area. Farmer You has worked with Marutoku Suisan, a local seafood processor, to develop frozen mottled spinefoot cutlets. Specially prepared and seasoned to reduce smell and then breaded, these cutlets are sold under the name Bari Katsu, and are served at restaurants across Japan. 2,500 to 3,000 cutlets are now being sold every month. Farmer You also works with Hamatake Suisan to commercialize products made of culled red stingray to reduce waste.
Through collaborative initiatives tailored to different species and local areas, the project aims to build local models that allow both the creation of new income sources for local fishers and coastal conservation. Farmer You hopes to address challenges in satoyama areas (woodland between mountain foothills and residential or farming areas) as well in the future.
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Selection Reason
This project builds on the 20+ year efforts of a local dive fisher to restore algal and seagrass beds. Through collaboration with a range of stakeholders such as the local government, research institutions, schools and financial institutions, the project aims to revitalize sustainable local fisheries. It has been able to broaden its perspective to blue carbon and TNFD, gaining strength to secure funding and develop this locally led initiative into a long-term sustainable framework. The initiative has the ability to develop into a pioneering model case for local initiatives if its environmental and social impacts can become more clearly visualized through project monitoring.

Since the 2000s, rising sea temperatures and an increase in the number of grazing marine organisms has worsened marine desertification (“isoyake”) in Kushiura, Saga. With the loss of algal and seagrass beds, which provide spawning and nursery habitats for marine life, local catches also plummeted. Blue Revive builds on more than 20 years of fieldwork led by fisher Shozo Kesamaru to restore these algal and seagrass beds and local fisheries.
This project is a collaboration with local fishers, residents, schools, universities, businesses and the local city government of Karatsu. For over two decades, the project has controlled the density of long-spined sea urchins (Diadema setosum), planted a common brown algae species called “kurome” (Ecklonia kurome) and eelgrass, continued scientific monitoring, and provided hands-on learning programs for children. From FY2022 to 2025, the project received carbon credits from the J Blue Credit scheme for the removal of a cumulative total of 116.3 t-CO₂. In addition, the scientific monitoring program has been institutionalized by the city of Karatsu through collaboration with Tohoku University. Furthermore, the project-implementation area has been certified by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan as a site contributing to the achievement of 30by30.
Through another collaborative initiative for the conservation of underwater forests, as well as a study group on nature finance established in January 2026, Blue Revive is conducting a study to demonstrate mechanisms that visualize the value of algal and seagrass beds (and other marine ecosystems) to leverage this in marine-environment restoration and local economy stimulation. Blue Revive aims to restore damaged fishing grounds, facilitate environmental education and generate income for local fishers, and ultimately apply the project methodology to other areas in Japan.
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Selection Reason
This project enabled digital traceability and opened a path for MSC certification for small-scale tuna fisheries in Indonesia, giving these fisheries better market access. It has become a model to prove that small-scale fishers can also gain access to international markets by managing fisheries with great transparency. The selection panel hopes that data to demonstrate continued compliance and positive impacts on fisher income and markets after project completion will be shared, increasing the model’s long-term sustainability and potential for wider replication.

Although pole-and-line and handline fishing are widely recognized as environmentally responsible fishing methods, operators were only able to show limited transparency and had less market access, due to fragmented supply chains, limited digital infrastructure, inconsistent catch documentation and weak traceability. Thus, there was a need for more resilient, technology-enabled monitoring systems, which was further highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indonesia Pole & Line and Handline Tuna Association (AP2HI) therefore collaborated with small-scale one-by-one tuna fisheries in Eastern Indonesia to strengthen catch documentation, traceability, data collection and responsible fishing practices by implementing digital innovation.
From 2020 to 2021, AP2HI worked with government, industry and technology partners to establish an end-to-end traceability system combining vessel tracking devices, time-lapse cameras, electronic logbooks and port-based data collection. The project mapped the coordinates of 93 anchored fish aggregating devices (FADs) and 14 lift nets for regulatory submission, while supporting training on post-harvest handling, identification of endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species, legal vessel registration and implementation of AP2HI's industry Code of Conduct.
The project supported AP2HI's broader sustainability efforts, during which its member fisheries achieved MSC certification in 2021. Building on the project, in 2025, AP2HI launched Blue Catch, an industry-led digital traceability platform designed to meet the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) standards. AP2HI continues to collaborate with the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) of Indonesia as well, by feeding FAD spatial data into the Database of Indonesian Vessels Authorized to Fish Tuna (DIVA-TUNA) and supporting the national Seafood Traceability System (STELINA), extending the project's legacy through stronger traceability, fisheries governance and market confidence.
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Selection Reason
This project addressed the complex vulnerability of migrant fishers head-on and took a strong bottom-up approach to reflect the voices of migrant workers and civil society in ASEAN policies. Human rights issues are often left out from policy discussions on fisheries resource management and seafood procurement. The project stands out as it incorporated human rights agenda in these discussions and translated them into policies through participatory and intersectional approaches. The selection panel hopes that the project can further collaborate with the private sector, including buyers, leading to concrete improvements across supply chains.

In response to the adoption of the ASEAN Declaration on the Placement and Protection of Migrant Fishers at the 42nd ASEAN Summit in May 2023, the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) and Better Engagement Between East and Southeast Asia (BEBESEA) launched this regional initiative in 2023. The initiative addresses labor exploitation at sea as an issue that spans across illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, business and human rights, and corporate accountability. It aims to ensure that the lived experiences of migrant fishers and their families are reflected in ASEAN policymaking through collective advocacy work.
In August 2023, with a bottom-up, participatory and intersectional approach, a regional consultation brought together 40 participants representing 25 civil society organizations from East and Southeast Asia, including maritime unions, human-rights and migrant-rights NGOs and think-tanks. This resulted in a comprehensive policy paper and a proposed guideline for ASEAN and beyond. From December 2023 to August 2024, members of the initiative engaged in official consultations with stakeholders in the implementation of the Declaration, including the Indonesian government and ASEAN bodies. Key recommendations were reflected in the ASEAN Guidelines on the Placement and Protection of Migrant Fishers (adopted at the 45th ASEAN Summit in October 2024). In October 2025, a workshop in Kuala Lumpur, endorsed and attended by the Chair of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), brought together 35 civil society representatives. This workshop helped integrate the protection of migrant fishers into the 6th ASEAN-EU Policy Dialogue on Human Rights.
In its next phase, the initiative will focus on the effective and inclusive implementation of the ASEAN guidelines across ASEAN Member States and their counterparts, while strengthening meaningful engagement with business actors and community-centred human rights due diligence in global seafood supply chains. The long-term goal is to bridge grassroots realities, policy and corporate practices for better accountability and the protection of migrant fishers and their families.
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Selection Reason
Through a survey of Japanese businesses and interviews with migrant workers aboard Taiwanese distant-water tuna fishing vessels, this project was able to thoroughly identify and illustrate human rights risks that Japanese companies face when purchasing tuna. It made a large social impact by communicating the results with Japanese businesses, the government and the media to urge them to take action for more responsible sourcing practices. As the next step, the selection panel hopes that the project can objectively demonstrate how the project changed and improved corporate behavior, leading to concrete solutions.

Sources have reported that Indonesian migrant workers aboard Taiwanese distant-water fishing vessels have been subjected to forced labor. Much of the sashimi-grade tuna exported from Taiwan in 2024 was destined for Japan, yet the tuna supply chain is complex and opaque, making it difficult to understand human rights risks.
This joint investigation project by Human Rights Now (HRN) and the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) conducted the following: interviews with former Indonesian crew members from two Taiwanese distant-water fishing vessels that are suspected of forced labor; an analysis regulatory frameworks in Taiwan and Japan; and a survey sent out to 19 Japanese companies on their responses to human rights risks. In collaboration with the Union of Indonesian Migrant Workers (SBMI), the project also conducted field surveys in Indonesia, including interviews with recruitment agencies, former fishing vessel crew members and local government agencies.
The investigation was able to document long working hours, unpaid wages, confiscation of identity documents and restrictions on communication. It also identified how corporate disclosure of human rights risks and grievance mechanisms for crew members are insufficient. Based on the results, in September 2025, HRN published the report Silenced Voices. The project aims to strengthen cross-border mechanisms to protect migrant workers’ rights through dialogues with the Fisheries Agency of Japan, the Fisheries Agency of Taiwan, and the National Human Rights Commission of Taiwan, as well as webinars for Japanese, Taiwanese and Indonesian organizations.
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Selection Reason
This project implements science-based co-management of fisheries through collaboration among local communities, scientists and local governments. It has successfully led to concrete outcomes including the application of the framework to many other local communities, development of provincial-level regulations, participation of women’s groups and stock recovery. This is an effective fisheries-management model that combines local participation and science. The selection panel hopes that this local-ownership model can be utilized in other regions as well.

Since 2017, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) Indonesia has led a science-based, stakeholder-driven initiative in Lampung Province to pilot sustainable co-management of blue swimming crab fisheries. Blue swimming crab is Indonesia's fourth most valuable seafood export, supporting more than 280,000 fishers and supply-chain workers. However, overfishing, climate change, fragmented governance, inconsistent regulations and limited stakeholder participation have hindered effective fisheries management, placing both marine ecosystems and coastal livelihoods at risk.
To strengthen stakeholder-led co-management and science-based decision-making, EDF Indonesia works with the Marine and Fisheries Agency of Lampung Province, Mitra Bentala (a local NGO), the University of Lampung, fishers and coastal communities. To date, the project has helped lay the foundation for 11 national and provincial fisheries regulations, empowered 60 community groups—including 42 fisher groups, nine community surveillance groups and nine women's groups—and established a fisheries data collection system to support adaptive management and protect critical blue swimming crab habitats.
The project pioneers a co-management model that integrates the co-management of marine protected areas (MPAs) and fisheries management areas (FMAs), placing coastal communities—including women—at the forefront of sustainable fisheries governance and marine stewardship. EDF has secured a significant new five-year funding to institutionalize the model at the provincial level and scale up its impact nationally, with plans to expand climate-resilient fisheries and MPA co-management, strengthen local leadership and livelihoods, and develop a replicable approach for sustainable small-scale fisheries management across Indonesia.
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