Ahmad Husein – April 2025
Sustainable Fisheries and Community Trust (SFACT) just rolled out its 2024 Annual Impact Report, sharing a bunch of stories from coastal areas in the vulnerable parts of the Indian Ocean. The report dives into how the organisation is making real differences by working on advocacy, education, and conservation as the three main pillars of the action. It sorts of weaves together local challenges and creative solutions in places that need it most.
John Burton, the Chairman of SFACT, remarked that 2024 was a pretty eventful year. He mentioned that over the past four years they’d handed out roughly USD 2,500,000 in grants and scholarships, welcomed a fresh project coordinator into the mix, and made solid headway on their strategic pursuits—all while keeping the Indian Ocean region in sharp focus.
Taking a huge step forward, SFACT stretched its efforts even further. They supplied motorised boats and safety gear to artisanal fishermen in Madagascar and jumped in with innovative, tourism-based conservation work—like the Ocean Eye project in Indonesia. Through a long-running partnership with Human Rights at Sea International and by offering marine safety training in Fiji, their impact has just kept on expanding.
Year 2024 also brought a fresh wave of progress in education. Nineteen scholars are studying for postgraduate degrees in topics such as sustainable fisheries management and species conservation, a journey that touches seven different Indian Ocean nations.
To assist in overcoming the obstacles small-scale fisheries face in accessing markets, SFACT has collaborated and co-funded research with four universities. Through them, data-informed solutions and sustainable practices are being propagated throughout the region by creating the next generation of coastal activists and specialists.
In collaboration with the International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF), SFACT has actively championed fair market access for small-scale fisheries by addressing critical challenges posed by current ecolabelling certifications. SFACT is also actively supporting the establishment of the Indian Ocean Coastal States Tuna Alliance (CSA), an initiative aimed at ensuring the long-term sustainability of tuna fisheries in the Indian Ocean and safeguarding the livelihoods of coastal communities.
SFACT’s attention shifts to raising match funding to maximise each dollar’s investment and scaling local impact to serve 50,000 people in 2024 and beyond. With grassroot innovation, community-led solutions, and international partnership at the core of its work, SFACT is navigating towards a future where coastal communities prosper and ocean’s bounty is protected for generations to come.
