Giving Compass' Take:

• Sustainable fishing practices produce larger catches of seafood and will help, not hurt, the fishing industry.

• How do preconceived notions of the consequences of sustainable practices get in the way of science and progress? how can this successful method be propagated around the world?

• Find out how supermarkets can nurture sustainable farming practices.

Managing wild fisheries with proven sustainability practices can mean bigger, not smaller, catches of tasty seafood.

That creates an opportunity for investors with a long-term view who are willing to invest through the transition period required for depleted fisheries to recover.

Three fund managers who are early adopters of such a strategy have joined forces with the Environmental Defense Fund to develop a set of guidelines, the Principles for Investment in Sustainable Wild-Caught Fisheries, to help attract capital from investors. The principles include requiring fisheries to meet all national and international fishing laws, to understand the environmental status of the waters they work in and analyze the future environmental risks, and to use transparent sourcing systems.

“We’re trying to help investors see that investing along the lines of these principles is simply a better long-term way to invest,” says Jason Scott, co-managing partner of Encourage Capital, a New York-based impact investment firm that manages Pescador Holdings, a private equity vehicle that has made two investments.

Research shows that with sustainable management, more than three-quarters of the world’s fisheries could recover within 10 years. That means the efforts could double the amount of fish in the ocean and safely increase catches enough to feed an additional half a billion people. Fishing communities could increase their annual revenue by more than $50 billion annually.

To get there requires more of everything: more capital invested by more funds in more investment-ready deals. In addition to Encourage, the other fund managers who have adopted the principles are Rare, which runs the Meloy Fund, which has raised $17 million of a $20 million target; and Althelia Ecosphere, which expects a $50 million first close of its Sustainable Ocean Fund by the end of June.

Read the full article about investing in sustainable fisheries by Carol J. Clouse at ImpactAlpha.