Wally Stevens, Executive Director of the Global Aquaculture Alliance, recently presented a lecture as part of GMRI’s Sea State 7.0 Public Lecture Series. He gave GMRI staff a preview of the lecture over lunch, with a focus on aquaculture and some of the key aspects of the organization. Wally has spent over 40 years in the seafood industry.  Aquaculture, or the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, is one of the fastest growing industries in the world!

Wally began by introducing some of the problems that the Global Aquaculture Alliance deals with. He discussed some of the issues concerning mangroves around the world as well as the challenges the aquaculture industry faces regarding fishmeal.  Wally’s lecture helped define for me the importance of mangroves because of their highly productive ecosystems and numerous benefits to coastal communities. Although nearly 50% of historic mangrove resources have been lost due to agriculture, urban development, and other devastations I was pleased to learn that there has been some major progress in the redevelopment of mangroves especially in areas such as Honduras and Ecuador. Wally also stressed the continuous struggles the aquaculture industry faces around how to feed the growing volume of farmed fish. With aquaculture production projected to double within the next ten years, the industry is working hard to address various concerns surrounding the impact to marine life from the use of fishmeal, as well as looking for alternative food sources.

Next Wally talked about some of the key elements of the Global Aquaculture Alliance. One program within the organization is called the Best Aquaculture Practice or the BAP. This program was created to provide guidelines for the organization to follow. The BAP was instated to ensure responsible practices across the aquaculture industry and oversees the development standards for hatcheries, farms, processing facilities and feed mills. The BAP is divided into five focus areas: social ethics, environment, animal welfare, food safety, and traceability. Each of these five focus areas has specific rules and regulations to follow as well as staff dedicated to ensuring these practices.

Listen to an audio recording of the lecture here.

By Jen Levin, Sustainable Seafood Program Manager

Here at GMRI, we keep busy doing what we can to promote sustainable seafood. And we are definitely not alone. Sam Grimley and I recently returned from a meeting with other non-governmental organizations working on sustainable seafood initiatives. The Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions provides a fabulous opportunity to see what efforts are happening across North America, learn about issues facing sustainable seafood across the globe, and explore how we can work together for even greater effect. As a collaborator of the Conservation Alliance, we work with folks from organizations such as Ecology Action Centre, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, and Blue Ocean Institute to discover synergies. It’s great to see how our different approaches work together to advance sustainability in seafood.

I love my job. I get to work on my passion for sustainability alongside the fabulous people who harvest, process, deliver, and sell seafood. It doesn’t get much better than that…

Well, it just did. This year, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute started working with fishermen and chefs to build markets for underutilized and underappreciated seafood. As a result of this work, we will be at Maine’s premier food event, the Harvest on the Harbor, helping to promote bountiful, but less appreciated, seafood species from the Gulf of Maine. The event, The Ultimate Seafood Splash, will take place on October 20th, from noon to 2:30 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the fishermen who harvest seafood and the chefs who expertly prepare it. Of course, this “foodie” event will include plenty of tastings paired with wine. Check out the Portland Press Herald article for a preview. Tickets are still available!

As I mentioned, our participation in this event spawned from our longer-term efforts to build markets for underutilized and underappreciated species from the Gulf of Maine.  Along with our steering team of food service professionals and fishermen, we plan to raise awareness and market value for these species in the Gulf of Maine region. Read more about our efforts in the Press Herald. Keep an eye out for promotions and consider supporting the restaurants that are involved.

By Olivia Tansley, Development Coordinator

We were thrilled to host Portland Greendrinks along with Maine Businesses for Sustainability (MBS) in July. It was a great opportunity to provide guests with fun ways to learn more about GMRI and the work we do.  We created “learning stations” on each of our three floors to highlight our Vital Signs science education program, Gulf of Maine Responsibly Harvested seafood branding program, gear technology research, and lobster research. The learning stations were a big hit, but the most engaging part of the experience for the GMRI staff, interns, and board members who attended was talking with others throughout the evening. It’s always great to make new connections, learn about what others are up to, and talk about what makes GMRI such an exciting organization.

By John Kelly, Chair, GMRI Board of Directors

It is my great privilege to chair GMRI’s Board of Directors for the next two years. I look forward to working with our visionary President, Don Perkins, the marvelous members of our board, a talented management team, and GMRI’s dedicated staff. It’s an exciting and challenging time of transition for GMRI.

We have now demonstrated our capacity to buck the economic downturn thanks to our wonderful supporters and the hard work of all elements of the Institute. And, we did so while continuing to add depth to our programs across the board. We now seek to add greater stability to our resources and move GMRI to an even deeper and broader level of performance.

As of last fall one of GMRI’s science education programs (LabVenture!) had brought 50,000 5th and 6th graders to our lab from every county in Maine and given them, literally, a hands-on grasp of the scientific method. Their critical thinking and communication skills were enhanced and they were provided with a greater appreciation of their responsibilities to the wellbeing of their communities as citizens. Challenging new content for the program is now being prepared and will be implemented in 2012 for another cohort of young people.

With admirable deftness our Community program leaders helped facilitate a new paradigm in the Gulf of Maine fisheries. GMRI’s efforts to assist New England’s groundfishing industry during the challenging transition to sector management are being well received. Early indications are that the system promises significant conservation gains. GMRI continues to support fishing communities, with an eye to bringing economic stability for future generations who will rely on Gulf of Maine fisheries for their livelihood. In keeping with GMRI’s mission to bring both stewardship and economic use to the Gulf’s resources, our Community program has also facilitated the creation of a Sustainable Seafood Initiative that will add value to the catch and promote sustainability in our fish stocks.

Our world-class scientists, in partnerships with fishermen, continue to pursue ecosystem-based research projects in the Gulf that promise to deepen our understanding of the many elements, natural and human, affecting our fisheries. The results will enable better decision making by those responsible for the management of our fisheries. The expertise of our scientists is now also in demand by the operators of fisheries in other parts of the world.

All of this bodes well for GMRI in its role as a catalyst for enlightened marine science, a promoter of early science education, and a neutral facilitator of informed marine decision making. Maine is fortunate to have GMRI as a resource and I am equally fortunate, from the vantage of its board chair, to witness GMRI’s ever more significant contribution to Maine’s science, education, and economy.

The Trawl to Table event we hosted in May was a fabulous way to engage local chefs and restaurateurs and to connect them with fishermen. We continue to talk with local restaurants about what they can do to support local and sustainable seafood options and ways we can continue to provide them with information.

To support this work, a few local restaurants have menu items that contribute a portion of their proceeds to GMRI’s Sustainable Seafood program. Please consider stopping in and letting them know how much you appreciate their support.

The Salt Exchange – contributes $2 for every hake dinner sold.

five fifty-five – contributes $1 for every Ocean’s 10 drink sold.

Grace – contributes $1 for every lobster and shrimp hot dog sold from their bar menu.

, Sustainable Seafood Program Manager, GMRI

To help build connections and share the latest gear technology research, GMRI hosted a forum of chefs, local fishermen, and gear researchers at our Trawl to Table event on May 27. While learning about gear displayed on GMRI’s lawn, the group had the chance to talk in detail about fish behavior, fishing gear selectivity, fisheries management, and habitat impacts of trawl gear used in the Gulf of Maine.

In addition to fishermen Justin Libby and Vincent Balzano, participants included chefs from Five Fifty-Five, Bar Lola, Grace, The Salt Exchange, Browne Trading Co., and North Atlantic, Inc.

The Salt Exchange posted a great blog entry about their experience.

Jen Levin, Sustainable Seafood Program Manager, GMRI

I’ve always been convinced that environmental and business sustainability go hand in hand. It can be really difficult to quantify that connection though, and many businesses often feel pressure to demonstrate consistently high short-term (e.g., quarterly) returns. This tendency gets in the way of understanding the long-term implications to the business and to the environment.

After working with Hannaford over the past year, I’ve been impressed by how clearly they understand that they must buy seafood from sustainable sources or they won’t have seafood to sell in the future. They understand that they not only have a corporate responsibility to do the right thing, but that they won’t be able to provide their customers with a broad array of seafood selections if the stocks are overfished. Sustainability is a business issue and Hannaford gets it.

As Hannaford has launched seafood communications to their customers via Facebook and circulars over the past month about its new seafood sourcing policy developed in partnership with GMRI, it’s been incredible to see the overwhelmingly positive consumer response. Clearly, people want to know that they are supporting responsible businesses. And even though many of us have very little connection to what goes on beneath the ocean’s surface, people care very deeply about the ocean ecosystem. Consumers want to support products that are responsibly sourced, along with the businesses that provide them.

While the connection between environmental and business sustainability is a lifelong passion of mine, I find myself energized to see that it is shared by many others as well. Call me inspired. I can’t wait to see what we accomplish collectively – businesses, consumers, and GMRI.