Sea Pact Named Seafood Champion Award Finalist for Leadership
BOSTON, March 17, 2017-Sea Pact, an innovative alliance of nine leading North American seafood businesses, is one of four finalists for the 2017 Seafood Champion Award for Leadership, SeaWeb announced today. A panel of seafood sustainability experts from industry and nonprofit organizations based in Asia, Europe and North America recognized the organization for using its collective power to lead improvement throughout the global supply chain by funding projects to drive change while showcasing how competitors can work together.
"Sea Pact is honored to be selected as one of four finalists globally in the leadership category, and we look forward to working together with our co-leaders as well as the important visionaries, innovators, and advocates in the seafood world to accelerate progress and drive positive lasting change" said Rob Johnson, Managing Director of Sea Pact.
The annual Seafood Champion Awards program, now in its 11th year, recognizes individuals and organizations for excellence in promoting environmentally responsible seafood. There are 16 finalists in four categories. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on June 5 at the SeaWeb Seafood Summit in Seattle.
"This year's finalists have a global perspective, whether they act locally or at a broader level," said Mark Spalding, president of SeaWeb and The Ocean Foundation. "Improving seafood's sustainability requires addressing difficult political, technical, social and economic questions. To create change, you have to forge alliances and bring people together around a common cause. These are not easy things to do, but the Champions on this list have forged ahead and are making real progress."
The Seafood Champion Award for Leadership recognizes people and organizations that bring stakeholders together to improve seafood sustainability or ocean health. In addition to Sea Pact, the other three finalists are:
* Susi Pudjiastuti, Indonesia's Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries since 2014. She has banned the use of bottom trawlers and other unsustainable catching devices; led the fight against illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing in her geographically dispersed island nation; and fought against the use of forced labor on fishing vessels.
* Wally Stevens of the Global Aquaculture Alliance. A widely admired leading light in aquaculture, he has developed the GAA as both a competitive force, with its Best Aquaculture Practices certification, and a precompetitive convener via the annual GOAL Conference, the Responsible Aquaculture Foundation, the Global Aquaculture Advocate and other initiatives.
* Mariah Boyle of FishWise. Known for bridging divides to unite businesses, NGOs and governments in pursuit of common goals, she has led companies such as Albertsons, Target, Hy-Vee and Sea Delight to improve traceability and reduce the risk of IUU fishing and human rights abuses in their supply chains. Her efforts have positively affected more than 7,500 stores and 250 million pounds of seafood.
For more information on the awards and finalists, go to www.seafoodchampions.org. For more information on the awards ceremony and the Seafood Summit, go to www.seafoodsummit.org.
About SeaWeb
SeaWeb serves the sustainable seafood community by nourishing a coordinated infrastructure of people and knowledge to guide, inspire and reward the seafood industry's adoption of sustainable practices. SeaWeb is a project of The Ocean Foundation, a unique community foundation with a mission to support, strengthen and promote organizations dedicated to reversing the trend of destruction of ocean environments around the world. SeaWeb produces the Seafood Summit in partnership with Diversified Communications.
About Sea Pact
Albion Farms & Fisheries, Fortune Fish & Gourmet, Ipswich Shellfish Group, Santa Monica Seafood, Seacore Seafood, Stavis Seafoods, J.J. McDonnell, A.C. Covert and Seattle Fish Co. comprise Sea Pact and all share an active and progressive approach to their sustainability commitments. These nine companies have joined together and are using their collective power to lead and drive improvement of environmental, economic, and social responsibility throughout the seafood supply chain. Sea Pact receives sustainability counsel from non-profit organizations FishWise, Ocean Outcomes, and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), and is a project under New Venture Funds 501(c)3 non-profit status. Project funding opportunities are available through an annual request for proposals.
Media contacts for Sea Pact:
Rob Johnson, Managing Director
rjohnson@seapact.org
+1 902 222 4933
Hamish Walker, Chair of Sea Pact Advisory Council
hwalker@seattlefish.com
+1 720 454 9367
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