Washington, DC – In a new video produced by Saving Seafood, a leading public information resource for the commercial fishing industry, seafood industry leaders discuss a key development in the dialogue within the industry from this spring’s SeaWeb Seafood Summit, held in New Orleans. Fishermen, world-renowned fisheries experts, leaders in environmental conservation, and interested stakeholders convened for discussions on seafood sustainability, and demonstrated a cooperative spirit that is encouraging for the future of sustainable seafood. The video prominently features Dr. Andrew Jackson, of IFFO, The Marine Ingredients Organisation, an international, not for profit organization that represents and promotes the fishmeal, fish oil and marine ingredients industry worldwide. Dr. Jackson identifies and overviews this trend in Saving Seafood’s video reportage of the conference. Saving Seafood spoke with both award-winning industry leader Dr. Jackson and famed explorer and oceanographer Fabien Cousteau.
Dr. Andrew Jackson is the Technical Director for IFFO and the winner of the 2015 Seafood Champion Award for Leadership at this year’s SeaWeb Summit. He was awarded the honor in part thanks to “working with stakeholders toward creating a uniform standard and encouraging responsible production of fishmeal and fish oil.”
In the video, Dr. Jackson discusses a heartening change in attitudes at the Summit toward mutually productive and long-lasting relations joining the fishing industry and marine conservation communities. As he states in the video, the dialogue at sustainability conferences has improved over the course of several years. According to Dr. Jackson, “Instead of standing at either side of the room and throwing things at each other, we started a dialogue,” he said. “It’s better to sit down and talk, rather than exchanging insults.”
IFFO supports and applauds SeaWeb’s work in driving an ongoing dialogue on vital issues in the fishing industry, drawing together representatives from all sides, including industry, academia, and environmental interest groups, to find a common approach.
In recent years, the industry has made great strides to improve its responsible practices by encouraging the introduction of more precautionary practices in the management of fisheries. IFFO leads this important development with the introduction of IFFO RS Global Supply Standard. The industry continues to develop these advancements as the current standard only covers 42% of the fishmeal and fish oil global production. According to Dr. Jackson, IFFO is now working on encouraging the remaining 58% of producers to demonstrate the same responsible behavior. Achieving this standard requires a coordinated approach from all sides of the industry, and the SeaWeb Summit is an important forum for this discussion.
Saving Seafood also spoke with Fabien Cousteau, accomplished oceanographer and grandson of renowned explorer Jacques Cousteau, and who last year completed Mission 31, where he spent a record-breaking 31 consecutive days underwater documenting marine life in the Florida Keys. Mr. Cousteau echoed Dr. Jackson’s remarks on the productive, evolving dialogue between fishermen and environmentalists. Mr. Cousteau told Saving Seafood that there is an increasing sense of optimism in the ability of governments, industry and non-governmental organizations to cooperate and advance common goals. He views conferences like SeaWeb’s annual Summit as part of that process and solution.
“SeaWeb has actually provided a platform for seemingly completely disparate groups coming together and going from having arguments to having cooperative discussion on how to best proceed,” he said.
Saving Seafood’s team of SeaWeb Summit attendees shared similar experiences as Dr. Jackson and Mr. Cousteau. Saving Seafood Executive Director Robert Vanasse expressed his optimism for the future of collaborative relations linking industry and environmentalists, saying, “Every year, hard working commercial fishermen advance conservation and innovate new, sustainable technologies for their fisheries, often enduring added financial hardship in the process. It’s unfortunate that those accomplishments are often overlooked, and so we’re proud of events like the Sea Web Summit, which has started to change that by fostering productive dialogues between all parties."
About Saving Seafood
Saving Seafood is a nonprofit organization that conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the seafood industry, as well as communications to keep industry members aware of issues and events of concern. Saving Seafood works with owners, captains, fishermen, seafood processors and brokers who are committed to the preservation of the resource that has provided their livelihood, and that of their American forebears, for generations.
About IFFO
IFFO, The Marine Ingredients Organisation, is the international ‘not for profit’ organisation that represents and promotes the fishmeal, fish oil and wider marine ingredients industry worldwide. IFFO’s members reside in more than 60 countries, accounting for over 50% of world production and 75% of the fishmeal and fish oil traded worldwide. Approximately 5 million tonnes of fishmeal are produced each year globally, together with 1 million tonnes of fish oil. IFFO’s headquarters are located in London in the United Kingdom and it also has offices in Lima, Peru, and in Beijing, China. IFFO is also an accredited Observer to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). For more information, visit the IFFO website – http://www.iffo.net/
Source: Saving Seafood