'We've grown phenomenally.' ABALOBI, 2023 Earthshot Prize finalist

The Earthshot Prize aims to identify, highlight, and support innovative solutions to heal and rejuvenate our planet and Clarence Ford speaks to one of the 2023 Earthshot Prize finalists Doctor Serge Raemaekers.

The Earthshot Prize awards five solutions with £1 million each year - winners gain access to a global platform while the Earthshot Prize supports them in scaling their business.

ABALOBI was a nominee and finalist for the coveted prize in 2023.

ABALOBI was founded in South Africa by Serge Raemaekers and Nico Waldeck as a non-profit partnership between fishers and scientists.

It aims to protect small-scale fishing communities and nurture their stewardship of the ocean while equipping customers with better information about the source of their seafood.

ABALOBI uses technology to provide small-scale fishing communities in Africa with a platform to record their catch. It's carried out through data traceability and helps support small-scale fishing communities' livelihoods, ensures sustainable fishing to protect ocean life, and creates job opportunities while making a positive environmental impact.

The  ABALOBI Mobile app connects fishers with a digital marketplace where they register their catches and log precisely how, when and where the fish originate.

For the first time, small-scale fishers have a tool to demonstrate transparently that they are fishing sustainably, and in exchange, they receive a fair price for their catch. 

How do nominees for the Earthshot prize work?

Businesses, NGOs and everything in between can nominate initiatives like ABALOBI, provided they meet Earthshot's criteria and messaging which aims to repair and regenerate the planet. 

What does it mean to be an Earthshot Prize nominee and finalist?

"It means a lot for us to connect these worlds in our country... the app is used by hundreds of fishers in South Africa and 12 other countries around the world."

- Serge Raemaekers, Doctor - 2023 EarthShot Finalist

"How cool is that? A proudly South African initiative is being used in 12 other countries around the world. Fishers use it to manage their accounts and small business but they also own their data and get to decide which elements they want to share of it with conservation organisations or the Fisheries Authority to start benchmarking the fishery to see what's going on in our waters... and to ask, how we make decisions as a group to benefit sustainable fishing that we can follow through on?"

- Serge Raemaekers, Doctor - 2023 EarthShot Finalist

"We've grown phenomenally especially in the past year on the back of our Earthshot finalist nomination... for example, we've partnered with South African restaurant chains like Ocean Basket, some retailers and distributors locally and in other parts of the world."

- Serge Raemaekers, Doctor - 2023 EarthShot Finalist