At Google's headquarters this afternoon, the Environmental Defense Fund unveiled a first-of-its-kind revolving loan program aimed at rebuilding California's fishing industry in an environmentally friendly manner.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- At Google's headquarters this afternoon, the Environmental Defense Fund unveiled a first-of-its-kind revolving loan program aimed at rebuilding California's fishing industry in an environmentally friendly manner.
The $5 million California Fisheries Fund will support fishermen, buyers and distributors that are working to build an ecologically sustainable fisheries industry that maintains both fish populations and fishing communities.
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"Without the California Fisheries Fund, these fishing businesses probably wouldn't get loans, and without loans, the entire seafood supply chain, starting with the fishermen, can't make the necessary investments to make fishing more sustainable," said Michael DeLapa, manager of the CFF. "We expect these loans to be paid back because we're confident about the growing market for environmentally-friendly fish and the new value created by management innovations."
At the event at Google's campus, the EDF unveiled the first three loans under the program. The recipients have been picked in keeping with the CFF's mission to provide much-needed capital to fishermen and businesses whose experimental methods of sustainable fishing cause additional problems with lining up funding.
One of the first loans, in the amount of $25,000, goes to the Morro Bay Fish Company in the form of a working capital line of credit; the CFF will also give the firm a 5-year, $100,000 loan to remodel its freezer, purchase a delivery truck and build a hoist on its dock. The company will use the funding to continue its work in buying, delivering and marketing fish caught sustainably by local fishermen in the central California coast.
Article continues: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/03/30/sustainable-fishing-funds-5m
