SALT recently initiated a small grants program to catalyze work towards SALT’s objectives and expand our learning opportunities in the field of electronic catch documentation and traceability (eCDT). This program supports international projects that address the challenges of implementing eCDT around the world. MCD works in Vietnam to promote cooperation between stakeholders and implement initiatives that integrate local knowledge and international sustainability goals. We checked in with their team to hear a bit more about their exciting traceability work.

Q&A

SALT: Can you tell us about your organization? 

MCD: MCD is a leading Vietnamese non-governmental organization (NGO) in the field of coastal and marine ecosystem conservation. The goal of our work is to contribute to management of coastal ecosystems in order to improve coastal communities’ living conditions. We understand that there is an interdependence between coastal communities and marine ecosystems, especially in fisheries. Electronic catch documentation and traceability (eCDT) is a new area of work that MCD has recently engaged with through the USAID Ocean project. We found it very interesting and timely to fisheries management improvements in Vietnam. We would like to see this work help demonstrate Vietnam’s commitment to fighting against illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, improve fisheries sustainability, and ultimately lift the EU’s yellow card decision. 

SALT: Who is involved in the project with SALT? 

MCD: We see the strength of teamwork. Thus, our team shall provide our collective strength to the SALT small grant project. Key personnel from MCD will work on the eCDT project, including executives and program officers as well as staff from the communications, administrative, and finance teams. The MCD team will be meeting with key stakeholders such as fishers and government officers. 

SALT: What kind of activities will you be doing with SALT’s small grant support? 

MCD: We are going to be very busy engaging stakeholders! First, we plan to summarize the experiences of our past eCDT pilot in Binh Dinh province as well as experiences from other eCDT pilots. From these conversations, we will compile lessons learned to uncover what has worked and what needs to be improved for fishers and the government to effectively implement traceability. We will then identify gaps in the existing eCDT technical guidelines and roadmap for Vietnam, recommending improvements. Based on our findings, we will facilitate a second eCDT pilot and host a national, multi-stakeholder workshop to discuss updated guidelines for the roadmap. 

Image: MCD team members meeting with key partners in the Binh Dinh province. 

Original source from SALT: https://www.salttraceability.org/story-hub/a-qa-with-salts-small-grant-recipient-centre-for-marinelife-conservation-and-community-development/