Since 2017, we have been empowering Bisa and Bacan islands fisher across 5 villages and have brought the sustainable fishery principle into more than 100 fishers. In 2021, MDPI supported the expansion of MSC into Bisa with 142 vessels’ catch now has an eco-label. Additionally, data collection has been implementing to support tuna management. As North Maluku province becomes part of the Lumbung Ikan Nasional (national fishery resource) program, Bisa has a big potential for the development of sustainable fisheries and coastal community empowerment.

1. Fisheries Improvement

• Port-side data collection at 4 landing sites
• Small-vessel technology implementation, including Onboard observers, Time-lapse cameras (TLC), Reolink, Spot trace, and Trekfish

2. Community Organization

• Helped the community to start the Koperasi Tuna Bisa Mandioli cooperative
• Empower coastal communities through champions formation
• Assisted 54 fishers to register for their Kusuka card in 2020

3. Certifications

• Has been implementing the FTUSA standard with 93 fishers, 4 suppliers and 1 processor for more than 3 years.
• In 2020, the Bisa FT Committee received Rp 70,778,165 and Bacan FT Committee received Rp 46,508,603 in premium payments.
• The Bisa Bacan FTUSA fishers got MSC certification in April 2021

4. Statistic

• Vessels: 88
• Fishers: 93
• Fisher Associations: 5
• Vessel with on-board tech installed: 3
• Total of port sampling: 39,164 kg