Expression of Interest: Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge: Catalyzing Market-Driven Innovations across the Fishery Ecosystem

• The fisheries sector presents a significant opportunity for blue economy development in Somaliland. This abundant marine resource presents significant opportunities to drive economic growth, strengthen food and nutrition security, create employment, diversify livelihoods, and expand private sector investment through the blue economy. As demand for fish continues to increase both domestically and regionally, the fisheries sector has considerable potential to stimulate enterprise development, promote value addition, improve household incomes, and contribute to Somaliland's broader economic transformation.
• Berbera plays a central role within this opportunity as one of Somaliland's principal fisheries hubs. The city supports a dynamic and interconnected ecosystem comprising artisanal fishers, boat owners, fishmongers, processors, transporters, retailers, cooperatives, women-led enterprises, financial institutions, government agencies, private sector actors, and supporting service providers. Together, these actors contribute to the harvesting, handling, processing, transportation, marketing, and distribution of fish to local consumers as well as inland markets such as Hargeisa, Burao, and Borama. Beyond the direct fish trade, the ecosystem also creates opportunities for businesses providing cold-chain services, transport, equipment maintenance, financial services, digital technologies, logistics, and business development support.
• Despite this significant potential, the fisheries sector remains underdeveloped due to a range of persistent and interconnected constraints that limit productivity, competitiveness, and enterprise growth. Limited cold-chain infrastructure, weak post-harvest handling and preservation systems, inadequate fish-quality management, fragmented market coordination, limited business management capacity, and restricted access to finance and higher-value markets continue to constrain the sector's development. Climate variability has further increased uncertainty by disrupting traditional fishing patterns and seasonal predictability, resulting in fluctuating fish supply, market volatility, post-harvest losses, and reduced incomes for fishing households. At the same time, limited value addition, weak customer and market intelligence, insufficient business services, and uneven access to productive assets continue to reduce the ability of enterprises to capture greater value from the sector.

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