California, USA – The Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions (the Alliance) is a collective impact initiative that seeks to drive alignment between NGOs, businesses, scientists, seafood experts, and governments around the world that are working to improve the sustainability and responsibility of seafood supply chains. This month, the Alliance is celebrating big changes to both its membership and leadership bodies.
First up, the new Alliance Global Hub: a community of more than 80 entities headquartered in 14 countries working to establish robust environmental sustainability and social responsibility in the production of seafood worldwide. The Global Hub has been strategically recruited, bringing in groups critical to the advancement of the Alliance’s 5-year strategy and 10-year goal: that by 2030, at least 75% of global seafood production is environmentally sustainable or making verifiable improvement and safeguards are in place to ensure social responsibility.
As Alliance Executive Director, Mariah Boyle notes, “it is a very ambitious goal. It sets a waypoint for our community to work toward and it helps us to focus on the most impactful work. While a goal of this magnitude is not achievable by any one organization, we believe the collective impact of the Alliance community, working alongside the many important initiatives and collaborations in the sustainable and responsible seafood movement, can bring us within reach. We will focus on aligning and curating guidance for businesses and creating connections between markets and policy work, and will systematically track our progress against the 10-year goal.”
Though getting there will be no small feat. Achieving a goal of this magnitude will require a razor sharp focus on priority actions to improve supply chain practices that at the same time, engages a broader set of partners to ensure all voices working to produce seafood globally are heard. Expert leadership is key to getting it right, and supporting Boyle and her team and helping to position the Alliance for success is its newly elected Alliance Board, proudly welcoming four fresh faces representing organizations headquartered in Mexico, the United States, the Netherlands, and China. These new Alliance Board members are: Cecilia Blasco (Kinship Fellow and Executive Director of SmartFish AC); Marah Hardt (marine scientist, author, and Director of Discovery at Future of Fish); Helen Packer (former head of Anova USA’s sustainability programs and Lead of the Seafood Stewardship Index at World Benchmarking Association); and Songlin Wang (Pew Marine Conservation Fellow and President of Qingdao Marine Conservation Society).
The four new recruits are joining existing Alliance Board members: Tobias Aguirre (Chief Executive Officer, FishWise); Jack Kittinger (Senior Director of Global Fisheries and Aquaculture, Conservation International); Indrani Lutchman (Program Director, FIP Evaluation & External Relations, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership); and Brian Perkins (Chief Operating Officer, Global Aquaculture Alliance).
Jack Kittinger, Alliance Board Chair and Senior Director of Global Fisheries and Aquaculture at Conservation International, celebrates the diversity of perspectives the new recruits bring to the Alliance Board, saying, “the Alliance Board is a critical part of the Alliance leadership team. Steering the organization toward success and impact is an outcome only achieved if we have a symphony of voices representing a variety of lived experiences informing our efforts. The ability of the Alliance Board to point the community in the right direction is undoubtedly strengthened by the addition of these outstanding leaders.”
And, with the formation of its brand new Advisory Council, comprised of seasoned figures from throughout the sustainable seafood movement who have served on the Alliance Board in years past, the Alliance’s leadership team is stronger than ever. Those serving on the Advisory Council will provide additional guidance on strategy, tapping into their deep knowledge of the sector’s history and promise to help steer the Alliance toward measurable impact.
Marching toward its vision of a world with an abundance of seafood where workers, communities, and the ocean can all thrive, the Alliance has a long road ahead with much work to do. But with the right voices at the table representing a broad swath of the movement, this global, intersectional Alliance may be just the group to transform the seafood market for the better.
To learn more about the Conservation Alliance, visit their website at www.solutionsforseafood.org.
If the Alliance’s work to build better seafood supply chains aligns with your own, register your interest in joining the Global Hub community so you can get involved in the conversation.
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The Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions is a global community of stakeholders working together to improve the sustainability and responsibility of seafood supply chains for our ocean and the people who depend on it.
