CEFAS24-17 - Contract for seafood value chain mapping for the Solomon Islands under the Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP)

The Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) is funded through UK official development assistance as part of the UKs Blue Planet Fund. It strengthens marine science expertise, develops science-based policy and management tools, and creates educational resources for coastal communities focussed on marine pollution, sustainable seafood, and marine biodiversity. In partnership with country governments OCPP builds capacity for marine science in local institutions organisations and communities.

With the Solomon Islands Government, OCPP is co-developing opportunities to maximise the Solomon Islands' sustainable blue economy development goals. As part of this, Cefas require the Supplier to map the seafood value chain in the Solomon Islands. Value chains in this context describe the "full life cycle of a product or process, including material sourcing, production, consumption and disposal/recycling processes" (WBSCD https://docs.wbcsd.org/2011/12/CollaborationInnovationTransformation.pdf). Sustainable food value chains are defined as "the full range of farms and firms and their successive coordinated value-adding activities that produce particular raw agricultural materials and transform them into particular food products that are sold to final consumers and disposed of after use, in a manner that is profitable throughout, has broad-based benefits for society, and does not permanently deplete natural resources."(FAO, 2014 Developing sustainable food value chains - Guiding principles (fao.org)). Thus including, the three elements of sustainability - economic sustainability, social sustainability, and environmental sustainability. The required value chain mapping will therefore describe the social, environmental, and economic elements of seafood production sectors in the Solomon Islands. The mapping for the seafood sectors will encompass: • All seafood production sectors, including subsistence seafood culture and harvesting, commercial fisheries and commercial aquaculture. • Estuarine, coastal/nearshore and offshore production and harvest. • Animal (fishes, invertebrates) and plant (seaweed) production. • Animals/plants used to feed humans directly, as well as those used to feed animals destined for human consumption (i.e. bait or feed). • All provinces of the Solomon Islands and particularly areas where production/harvest, processing and trade are concentrated such as Guadalcanal, Malaita and Western Province.