Visual notes from BLUMiND

Here are some visual teasers from the BLUEMiND Summit.  The caliber of speakers was really impressive and overall the Summit was a great success.  More to come!

Dawn Martin, President, SeaWeb

Jeff Clark, Legendary Big Wave Surfer

Luca Penati, Ogalvi

Dr. Amir Vokshoor, Institute of Neurological Innovation (left), with Neil Osborne, Intl League of Conservation Photographers (right) 

SeaWeb in San Francisco: Your Brain on the Ocean

SeaWeb is co-organizing and attending the BLUEMiND summit at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, CA. Join us on June 1st and 2nd at this first-of-its-kind event to explore the intersection of neuroscience and ocean conservation.

As humans, we have a deep emotional connection to the sea that drives many of our decisions: what happens to the brain when we are in proximity to the ocean? Why do we spend hard earned money to vacation, live or dine within the view or sound-shed of the sea? What are the links between the ocean, relaxation, stress and public health?

Bringing together trailblazers in a variety of fields ranging from neuroscience, ocean science and conservation, experts in technology forecasting, photographers, explorers, writers, dancers and ocean advocates, the unprecedented Summit will help answer these questions and define the “brain on ocean”.

A livecast of the June 2 summit will be available at www.justin.tv/calacademy. SeaWeb's own Daria Siciliano will be providing updates from San Francisco during the Summit, at the ensuing "ocean relaxation" session at the state-of-the-art Planetarium, and during the NightLife event of the CalAcademy. So stay tuned to find out about the "brain on ocean"!

For more information about BLUEMiND, visit www.mindandocean.org.

And the Seafood Champions are.....

SeaWeb's annual Seafood Champion Awards reception was held last night at the Boston Westin in conjunction with the International Boston Seafood Show.  The room was packed wall-to-wall and among those in the room were four of the six Seafood Champion awardees whom we were honoring for the evening.  The 2011 winners are:

• Robert Clark, Executive Chef, C Restaurant, & Harry Kambolis, CEO, Kambolis Restaurant Group, Vancouver, Canada

• Phil Gibson, Group Director Perishable for Seafood, Safeway, Inc., San Francisco, California, United States

• Dune Lankard, Founder and Chairman, Eyak Preservation Council, Cordova, Alaska, United States

• Steve Phillips, President and CEO, Phillips Foods, Inc., and Seafood Restaurants, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

• Olivier Roellinger, Vice President, Relais & Châteaux, Paris, France

• Peter Weeden, Head Chef, Paternoster Chop House, London, United Kingdom      

Seafood Champions: Dune Lankard, Jonathan Cartwright (accepting award on behalf of Olivier Roellinger), Becky Marshall (SeaWeb), Harry Kambolis, Melanie Siggs (SeaWeb), Steve Phillips, Phil Gibson.  Not pictured: Robert Clark, Olivier Roellinger, Peter Weeden.

Unfortunately, Champions Olivier Roellinger, Peter Weeden and Robert Clark were unable to join us in person but their positive energy filled the room nontheless.

Now in its sixth year, the annual Seafood Champion Awards recognize outstanding leadership in advancing the market for sustainable seafood. Nominated by the seafood community and judged by a panel that includes previous winners, the awards have been bestowed upon individuals, companies and organizations from the fishing, aquaculture, seafood supply and distribution, retail, media, restaurant and foodservice sectors. Winners of this award have influenced the marketplace with regard to the sourcing of ocean-friendly seafood while successfully integrating innovative models to advance sustainability in the seafood industry. The Seafood Champion Awards are presented by SeaWeb’s Seafood Choices program. 

Talking Seafood Sustainability in Boston

SeaWeb will be in Boston, Massachusetts for the 2011 International Boston Seafood Show, which starts on Sunday March 20 and runs through Tuesday March 22.  While in Boston we’ll be announcing the winners of the 2011 Seafood Champions awards and celebrating their great achievements in seafood sustainability, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for that exciting news.  You can read more about the finalists and the awards here.  

SeaWeb's Seafood Choices team will also host a panel about illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing on Tuesday, March 22, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Show. During the past decade, the incidence of IUU fishing has grown at an alarming rate and irresponsible fishing activities undermine efforts to manage fisheries properly. As fisheries provide an important source of food, employment, income and recreation for people throughout the world and IUU fishing diminishes the resources for the millions of people who depend upon seafood for their livelihoods, this is a critical issue to be addressed.  We hope you’ll be able to join us for this presentation.  You can read more about Seafood Choices' work on IUU here.

We’ll be providing updates from Boston on this blog, so stay tuned as we continue the conversation on seafood sustainability.

Seafood Summit: Seafood Sustainability in Seattle & Looking to the Future in Asia

A day trip to Seattle was a great way to officially close the Seafood Summit.  17 delegates ventured across the US/Canada border for a visit to Seattle's Ballard Port to learn about the commercial halibut fishery.  Jeremy Brown of Commercial Fisheries of America led delegates along an informative learning experience, and culinary adventure.

Seattle's Pike Place Market

 It was a whirlwind of a trip in the best way possible.  Delegates were engaged and could barely tear themselves away from the fishermen who kept feeding them information about the successes and struggles they've endured fishing for halibut just outside of Seattle.  In addition to the talks given by the fishermen, delegates were treated to three delicious meals at three Seattle seafood lover staples - Chinook's, Ray's and Steelhead Diner.  Each restaurant is sustainability conscious and sources locally.

Delegates returned to a dark and rainy Vancouver very late in the evening, but there was still a lot positive energy in the air as delegates said their goodbyes.  Lots of new connections were made and important relationships built toward improving the fishing industry and seafood marketplace.  Everyone is looking forward to Hong Kong, but a lot of work will need to take place between now and then.  Let us know your thoughts as we prepare for the future of sustainable seafood in Asia.  See you in the Fall of 2012 in Hong Kong!

Seafood Summit: Day 3 - Summit comes to a close

It's hard to believe that the final day of the Summit came and went, but not without some incredible milestones worth noting.  The sessions were well attended and engaging even on the last day, which is a true testament to the incredible content in each of them.

Delegates who join us for the closing presentation had the honor of being addressed by His Royal Highness the Price of Wales in a pre-recorded video in which he discussed the need to improve fisheries and take a collaborative approach to research.  He noted that while positive steps are being made through multi-stakeholder partnerships, the way forward will not be without intractable problems.  His hope is that partnerships can be found so it is crucial that we keep talking for as long as it takes.  Partnerships must be built that safeguard biodiversity and sustain livlihoods based on fishing to achieve balance toward a more sustainable future. 

His Royal Highness made it clear that while it is easy to despair, solutions are in our grasp.  We can see thriving and productive oceans, if we do change our fishing policies.  His Highness’ regret was that he couldn’t join the delgates in person, but recognized all of the tireless work Summit attendees old and new have been conducting for years, and experessed gratitude and encouraged leadership toward a sustainable future.  “Enlightened individuals have the biggest influence,” he said; a big compliment to every single Summit attendee. 

Hong Kong night skyline

SeaWeb’s own Melanie Siggs took the stage for the final close, with a big announcement on the tip of her tongue.  Where the Summit will be hosted next is not just about geography.  There are physical and geographic challenges to moving the sustainable seafood movement forward so the need to go to Asia is important more than ever.  Melanie announced that the 2012 Seafood Summit will take place in Hong Kong, on a 18 months schedule instead of the traditional 12 months schedule.  So, hopefully we’ll see you on in Hong Kong in the fall of 2012?

Give us a little reflection and listening time about how we make it a success.  We want to engage more with colleagues to help bring them in and improve on all of our successes from the past.  Between now and then, we hope to conduct many business roundtables, workshops, attend the Brussels Seafood Show and Boston Seafood Show, engage in the World Seafood Congress and World Fisheries Congress and continue the conversation on an international basis. 

Our common goal is global sustainability.  We hope you’ll continue to be a part of the conversation.   Though the Summit isn't officially over - delegates will join us early Thursday morning for a trip across the borden into Washington State to tour of a halibut fishery and visit to Seattle's famous Pike Place Market.  Stay tuned for a recap of those adventures soon.

And now, to celebrate the many successes of the 2011 Seafood Summit!

The Future of Seafood Sustainability & China

The China seminar, China's Seafood Marketplace: Our Common Future, was certainly a discussion of scale...on how to think and rethink our engagement on sustainability given the world's largest population group, largest exporter, and biggest consumer of seafood per capita. An illustration provided by Jack Liu, Zhangzidao Fishery Group, is the immense size of their shellfish production area, which covers 1,500 square kilometers, an impossible reality in other parts of the world. A major takeaway provided by Hugo Contreras, Cargill, and supported by other speakers is that the world must face the changing reality of "made in China" to "made for China". Finally, Peter Redmayne, SeaFare Group, noted that a major key to successful engagement in China is building trust and understanding the importance of guanxi, which loosely translates to one's personalized network of influence. It seems a lot of this relationship building for business is built around dinner and drinks, with emphasis on the drinks!