Fresh, clean and formaldehyde-free seafood are the selling points of Fisherfolk, a joint-investment by 60 fishermen from the coastal province of Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thai Sea Watch Association, Federation of Thai Fisherfolk Association and consumers.
Saowalak Prathumthong.
The first shop was opened at the Kui Buri intersection and in the area of Bo Nok Temple on June 21 last year to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Charoen Wat-aksorn, the protest leader against the government's coal-fired power plant project in Bo Nok.
"We selected the date because we want to remind the public of people power and the long history of our fight against the project. We have created another step in the effort by joining forces to build a community enterprise," said Fisherfolk manager Saowalak Prathumthong.
After a year of operations, Fisherfolk has grown from one outlet to three, as well as being a supplier to some restaurants, hotels in Bangkok and the organic supermarkets of Lemon Farm.
"When consumers see the Fisherfolk brand, we want them to know that our seafood is safe for consumption, not contaminated with formaldehyde and is harvested by fishing tools that do not damage the environment and ecological system," she said.
How did Fisherfolk start?
It started with the idea of offering fair trade to fishermen. Thai Sea Watch Association has worked with local fishing communities in Prachuap Khiri Khan for about eight years. One of the issues we learned was that fishermen earned less than they should have.
One of the reasons is because there is a long-established system known as kieo. It is the local system that fishermen must sell their daily catch to only a few businessmen who either invest in the fishing boats or whom the fishermen get some loans from. They cannot sell their catch to other vendors. Prices are also regulated by the investors. The system is a monopoly and operated like contracted farming.
Fisherfolk was founded to be an alternative. We operate under the Federation of Thai Fisherfolk Association, which has a network in all fishing communities in the South.
How's business so far?
It was a bit hard in the beginning as none of us had business experience. Bit by bit we learnt who our customers are and what they like. At first, we thought we would offer our products only in our shop in Prachuap Khiri Khan, but later we found that our real market is in Bangkok. So we provide our products online via a Facebook fan page (www.facebook.com/Khon.jab.pla.fisherfolk) and use public van services for product delivery. Customers need to pick up their orders at van stations and pay for the transportation fee.
Since February we have got support from Oxfam, which has worked with the Thai Sea Watch Association for a long time, to open an outlet at Root Garden (located at Thong Lor Soi 3, next to the Pridi Banomyong Institute.) The shop is open Friday to Sunday and is one of the pickup points for our customers.
We also opened another Fisherfolk shop at Tha Sala district in Nakhon Si Thammarat this year. In addition, we have just signed a contract with Lemon Farm to supply our seafood to its 11 outlets. Locals are now busy with large orders. We used to process only 20kg of fish a day when we started; now we get orders to process one tonne of fish. Our efforts have started to pay-off.
How do you process the food?
Fishermen normally spend four or five hours at sea. After they return to shore, we have a team to clean, process and store the fish or shrimps in vacuum sealed bags and freeze it for selling to customers right away. As the freshness is the key to our product, we have to keep the process short.
In the future, we plan to have a small factory in Khan Kradai village in Prachuap Khiri Khan where fishing boats unload their catches. We will also apply for a food safety standard from the Food and Drug Administration.
What are your best-selling products?
They are fish slices including king mackerel, sea bass and grouper. Another popular product is banana prawn. Thanks to the clean seas of Prachuap Khiri Khan, our prawns are big. We also provide fresh mackerel and processed food such as sliced sun-dried squid and sweetened or dried goldstripe sardinella.
We do not sell any kind of shells and clams because Fisherfolk's philosophy is to support environmentally friendly fishing methods. We are against the use of illegal fishing tools, destructive fishing practices and fishing methods that oppose the rules of the community. This includes the use of trawling the sea floor.
How can you reassure customers that your products are formaldehyde free?
We have a testing kit to check if the seafood sold to us has formaldehyde or not. If it passes our first test, fishermen can keep selling their catches to our shops. It is a trusted system as fishermen have worked with us (Thai Sea Watch Association) for a long time and they give us that commitment. We also have our staff sailing with them. We have got to know each other very well over the past eight years.
Around the middle of next year, we plan to have certified standard called "Blue Brand" to guarantee formaldehyde free seafood. The standard will be a joint project by the Thai Sea Watch Association, the Federation of Thai Fisherfolk Association and environmental experts.
Your prices seem to target high-end customers?
Prices are based on the cost we buy from fishermen plus processing and management fees. The prices are a bit high as our orders are still small compared to many tonnes of fish some fishermen can catch within a day. We haven't got profit from the business yet, but hope we can make it soon.
When will Fisherfolk break even?
During the first year, Fisherfolk spent about 1.7 million baht for the business and about 300,000 baht is the total profit for the fishermen who sell products to us. We hope to have more orders so in the future we can offer dividends to our shareholders. Our goal is to make a profit within three years.