Fishers Manifesto

There are certain projects that feel impossible to say no to. Even when it makes no sense. Even when you're already at maximum capacity. And especially when you realise that if you say yes - you'll end up going all in (we suck at doing things by halves). 

And yet - we still say yes. 

Because the work matters. Because we give a shit. Because we have a sense that we might actually be able to make a dent in something important.

We'd zipped through January with back to back projects and deadlines - and somehow arrived in February with a relatively open window before things really kicked off again. I remember us having a conversation about having some time to breathe - to focus on some of the big projects that we're building internally. It felt like we'd just finished a sprint and were at the finish line somewhat amazed that we were still standing. 

And then, as if the universe sensed we were on pause - Luke got a message from Steve, one of the local commercial fishermen asking for help. We've done some work with the Jersey fishers before - focused on marine plastic pollution, but this time round they were dealing with a completely different issue. 

Like most people on the island we'd seen the newspaper articles and  heard the interviews. The local fishing fleet were angry. They've been operating under an outdated and insanely unfair agreement called the Granville Bay Treaty. I'm not going to get into the details here (you can go read all about it on the website) - but I can tell you this. The last four weeks have been an incredibly steep and humbling learning curve.

Here's the thing about being an environmentalist - it's very easy to operate in an echo chamber and to become pretty rigid in your thinking. It's much simpler to paint something up as either good or bad than being willing to look at it from a systems point of view and dive into the complexity of it all.

I think it took us a solid week of back and forth WhatsApp messages and calls to even begin to get to grips with the issues. But once we started to understand we realised just how important the work was. Soon our brains were pinging and we'd tapped into that epic flow state that make work feel like play. For us it normally starts on the walls of our studio (we write all over them) and then translates into flipchart paper & sharpies -  almost always fuelled by peanut butter & dark chocolate - mapping stuff out visually so we can actually see it, think about it and start to understand what we're looking at.

The more we learned - the more we knew we had to learn. But in my experience, that's where the most interesting journeys start.

This project reminded us how we show up best - our super conditions - the conditions that enable us to do our most impactful work. We're really good at creative sprints - blocking out a window of time, with a firm deadline and just diving deep. Going all in on one project often feels indulgent - a luxury that we can't always afford, but we were lucky this time, we had a clear window and we were able to channel all our energy into one lane.

Once we had a handle of the issues, we started exploring how best to design a campaign for the fishers. A petition wouldn't cut it - there was more than one clear ask. A protest or rally felt too aggressive, too 'us vs them'. And so we landed on a manifesto - it felt like an opportunity to lean into a more positive vision, a way to map out the key points of the argument in a simple format that people could engage with.

There is huge value in translating complex issues into simple language.  We can't take action unless we feel empowered, and we can't feel empowered if we don't understand. All too often, as adults, we make things far more complicated than they need to be. We use technical jargon and academic language that immediately splits an audience into two groups - those who understand and those who don't. And in doing so we exclude people from the conversation.  So for us, writing the manifesto was about stripping things back - asking ourselves, what's the most important thing that people need to know if they want to engage in this dialogue ? What does 'enough' look like when it comes to information ?

Initially we imagined building the manifesto on a one page website - keeping it super super simple. But as the work unfolded we realised that one of the best outcomes of the campaign would be that it sparked conversations and a desire to learn more. So we expanded - once we'd written the manifesto, we worked with the fishers to add another level of detail - giving context where it was needed and finding visual ways to bring the words to life.

The majority of our work is off island - so bringing in the global conversation around sustainable fishing and mapping it against the targets for SDG 14 was pretty easy for us. The flip side to that was mapping out the local context - which meant reviewing local government policies, reading scrutiny reports and listening in to debates & interviews. Every day we learned something new. 

Once you start layering all these elements in - and looking at the issue through the eyes of all the different stakeholders, you realise how nuts it is that we don't learn systems thinking in schools.  And let's be honest about it - not thinking in systems can be pretty damn convenient. We can go all in with our environmental stance when we don't have to have upfront conversations with people whose livelihoods depend on the fishing industry. We can divide groups into the good guys and the bad guys when we don't take the time to explore the interconnectivity between us all.

I guess what I'm saying is - systems thinking often starts by making things more complicated. There's a good amount of untangling that needs to be done in order to truly understand. But once we start to map things out we begin to recognise cause & effects - deciphering the way things influence each other.

For us, blending systems thinking with design thinking means we start to see the whole picture. It means we look at things (and therefore design things) with more empathy. We can stand at different points and ask ourselves 'what is it like to be you ?'.

It was this mindset that invited us to reframe the challenge as an opportunity. Ask people to stand with the fishers as opposed to simply fighting against the government or the French. We made sure that the language we were using was positive and shaping a vision of what is possible.

The poet Rilke inspired a question we often ask when we're talking to ocean advocates (and pretty much anyone interesting we meet on our travels) - What is the question you are living right now ? This is ours - What would it look like for our fishers to become the true guardians of our waters ?

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."- Rilke

Earlier this year we worked alongside the We Are Ocean collective to build a framework to help ocean advocates & those working in ocean & blue space to communicate more effectively and therefore raise levels of ocean literacy.

The question that kicked off our work - How might we talk about the ocean in ways that help us deepen our connection to it ?

We reviewed ocean literacy & nature connection reports and communication toolkits. Our biggest takeaway ? Most of the reports focused on ‘what’ should be communicated as opposed to ‘how’ we should be communicating. We explored the more ‘heart focused’ way of connecting people to the ocean, and found five common threads that form the basis of our approach.

Wisdom, Awe & Wonder, Viewpoint, Experience & Story

The framework also needed to tick a few boxes from a design perspective - it needed to be memorable, it needed to be visual and become something that could be applied to a diverse array of ocean focused projects.

Once built - we started reaching out to our community of ocean advocates to explore how WAVES can be used as an effective comms tool. As soon as we started working on the Fishers Manifesto, we realised that it was the perfect project to test out the framework.

Wisdom - What traditional knowledge can we draw from ? Who are our elders and what can we learn from them ?

The Jersey fishers are the source of incredible knowledge about our local marine environment. Often this wisdom is disregarded or ignored altogether. Applying the WAVES framework to the project reminded us of the importance to lean into their local knowledge and help showcase it. For us that meant ensuring we spent time with the fishing fleet in their environment & documenting their knowledge.

Awe & Wonder - How can we use optimism & curiosity to connect to the ocean ?

We asked ourselves - How can we reframe this challenge as an opportunity to protect something amazing rather than just fighting against the system ? This approach was fundamental in the design of the campaign. Rather than create a petition fighting against something, we built a manifesto to share a positive vision for the future.

Viewpoint - Who are we speaking to & what is their view of the world ?

One of the biggest challenges in this project was translating a very complex argument into something simple & engaging. We know from our work in Design Thinking that it's vital to know who you are designing for - and in this case, we needed to communicate with a very diverse audience. It wasn't as simple as building a manifesto for the politicians to read, or for local schools. So we defined the different target groups within the audience and created specific calls to action & tools for each. We made all assets available to the community to use as they wish - giving them a sense of participation & ownership of the campaign.

Experience - Can we make the interaction experiential ? How can we build connection through experience ?

It's all too easy to design a campaign that is purely digital & social media led, but we know that making something experiential would help connect people to the cause. We ensured that all assets were built for digital & analogue use. The fishers wanted posters, banners & ways for islanders to sign the manifesto offline. 

We integrated art & education in the campaign - reaching out to local photographers, film makers & artists to support the cause by sharing their ocean related work. We designed lesson plans for local primary schools - colouring in activities and an opportunity for kids to learn more about sustainable fishing. 

Story - How can we learn into stories, values, beliefs and identity to talk about the ocean ?

As we were designing the campaign we began exploring how we best we could tap into the things that our local community already care about, and identifying what stories needed to be told. 

Covid significantly changed islanders relationship to the sea - not only did we enjoy an incredible, long summer that reminded us how lucky we are to live on a small island, but the pandemic brought the issue of food security to the forefront of our minds, and the fishing community stepped up and provided locals with the opportunity to eat freshly caught fish purchased direct from the fishers.

The connection to our fishers has never been stronger - and so we made sure to remind our audience of the human side to this story.

This story doesn't have a neat ending - this isn't some kind of Disney film where everything magically falls into place. We are still in the thick of it. Time is ticking, and yet still our government are yet to take real meaningful action. 

Quite honestly this feels like the ultimate David & Goliath situation. But although you may imagine that Goliath depicts the French - actually in this situation, Goliath is our local government. Ultimately, they are choosing not to act, not to support our local fleet.

There have been so many lessons along the way (and continue to be) - but one that we weren't expecting was how many local organisations are afraid of supporting the cause for fear of being 'too political'. God forbid that they rock the boat (pun intended).

To be totally transparent, we've found it pretty disappointing. We all have the capability of making a difference - of using our voice to stand up for things we care deeply about. Yet so often, people choose not to. Of course, it's a personal choice to engage or not, and I respect that - but my sense is that most folk do have an opinion, they're just afraid of voicing it. 

We had many responses to the Fishers Manifesto from organisations who said in principle they agreed, but they couldn't be seen to align with it. So many, in fact, that we created a simple feedback form to give them an opportunity to share their thoughts without having to commit to signing. It's the conversation that matters - we don't need everyone to agree, we just need to bring attention to the issue and ensure our island community actually know what's happening.

And so now, in this in-between stage - the extended amnesty period, we're seeing French trawlers dredging off our coast in ever increasing numbers. Our fleet are outnumbered and under threat. Livelihoods are at risk. Our fish stocks are being decimated and untold damage is being done to our ecosystem.

So we ask you this - please - dive into this issue. Learn as much as you can. Ask questions. Do your homework. Engage in healthy debate with co-workers, friends and family. Seek out local fishers and spark up a conversation. Try to imagine standing in their shoes.

And if, like us, you find yourself wondering how on earth our local fleet have been left to fend for themselves - please sign the Fishers Manifesto.