Crab and prawn from the lagoons as a branded chilled export, with the lagoon's name

A first step

Buy a few kilos of lagoon crab from the morning landing, chill it properly, and take it the same day to the purchasing managers of two city hotels with a label naming the lagoon it came from. Ask each whether they would buy weekly at a fixed price if the lagoon and the catch date were guaranteed. A standing weekly order is the first proof that the name carries a premium, before any export licence is needed.

Who pays first

A hotel purchasing manager who wants crab and prawn with a known origin and catch date, and will pay a fixed weekly price for it.

What leaves today

Lagoon crab and prawn leave anonymous in bulk, so the premium that a named origin earns goes to whoever repacks it under their own brand.

The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.

The test

Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?

The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.

In the book

• Ch. TwoAn Island Nobody Has Counted
  An ocean eight times the size of the land

More from cluster 13

• 251Sailing charters and a yacht marina at Galle or Trincomalee, with the crew trained here
• 252Diving schools at the wrecks of Trincomalee and the reefs of the east, certified to international standard
• 253Sport fishing charters with catch-and-release, sold to the Gulf and Europe
• 254Sea-cucumber and seaweed farming in the northern lagoons, which Japan and Korea buy
• 255Tuna graded, loined and vacuum-packed at the harbour for the sashimi market, not sold whole
• 257Dried fish and Maldive fish for Sri Lankans abroad, packed to a food-safety standard

All 20 ideas in this cluster