Julie Packard has become an acknowledged leader among aquariums worldwide and for redefining the aquarium’s role as a force for conservation. Photo: MBA
This is the first of a two-part interview with Julie Packard, the executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program has become one of the most powerful voices in the industry for seafood sustainability, affecting not only Gulf of Mexico fisheries, but fisheries around the world.
© by Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News Editor
Julie Packard may have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but saltwater is in her blood. As the executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a position she has held since the Aquarium opened in 1984, she has become an acknowledged leader among aquariums worldwide and for redefining the aquarium’s role as a force for conservation.
Julie Packard is the daughter of Lucile and David Packard. In 1939 her father, with William Hewlett, co-founded Hewlett-Packard. In 1964 the California couple founded the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Photo: David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Packard is the daughter of Lucile and David Packard. In 1939 her father, along with William Hewlett, co-founded Hewlett-Packard. Before his retirement in 1993, he served as the company’s president, CEO and Chairman of the Board. He also served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1969–1971 during the Nixon administration.
In 1964 the California couple founded the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Prompted by her and her sister, Nancy Packard Burnett, in 1978 Dave and Lucile Packard created the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation. The couple donated $55 million to build the new aquarium on the site of a former sardine cannery on Cannery Row. In 1987 they gave $13 million to create the independent Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. The foundation currently provides approximately 90% of the Institute’s operating budget.
Saltwater in Her Blood
“While at the University of California/Santa Cruz I became involved in an intertidal field research project studying marine algae,” said Packard about where she acquired her lifelong saltwater aquatic interests. “Imagine a college student getting up at 5 a.m. to catch low tides, and doing this week after week, year after year. I was hooked.”
During the 1970’s America was taking the first steps in creating the environmental protection laws on the use and care for natural resources. During that period huge strides were made in building our country’s constituency for the land, air and fresh waters.
“Something was missing for me. No one was talking about what was happening on the other 70% of the planet. The part that creates the oxygen we breathe, that buffers us from the impacts of greenhouse gases and rising temperatures, and serves up primary protein for more than one billion people in the developing world – the ocean,” said the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s director.
The Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program was an outgrowth of a 1977 ‘Fishing for Solutions’ exhibition. Today the Aquarium sponsors a two-day sustainability conference as part of its annual ‘Cooking For Solutions’ event. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
For Packard the ocean is central to life. “It’s our pantry, our lungs, our playground. It’s a massive driver of global commerce and an incubator for innovative technologies that will drive our future. And the ocean is a source of inspiration and joy. I’ve dedicated most of my adult life to working to create a constituency for the oceans and a future where people and nature can together survive and thrive,” she explained.
According to Packard, talking about the connection between ocean health and seafood was a natural evolution for the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
“People have been connected to the ocean through fishing, and through eating seafood, from the time the first humans lived along the coast. It has an impact on the abundance and health of ocean wildlife populations – a topic we addressed in a 1997 special exhibition, ‘Fishing for Solutions’. The Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program was an outgrowth of that exhibit,” said the director.
Start of Seafood Watch
When the Aquarium started Seafood Watch 15 years ago, there was little interest in seafood and sustainability. Today, sustainable and traceable seafood programs are everywhere you look, including seven in the Gulf of Mexico alone – Fish Trax, FishWise, Gulf Seafood Trace, Audubon’s G.U.L.F Sustainable Seafood, Alabama Wild Seafood, Louisiana Wild Seafood, Gulf Wild and of course Seafood Watch.
The Aquarium sponsors an annual Sustainable Foods Institute tied to its annual “Cooking for Solutions”. Industry experts and nationally recognized journalists are panelists on a variety of topics, including Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D (middle) who directs Consumer Safety and Sustainabilty for Consumer Reports. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
The program is aimed at providing information to consumers and businesses so as they can make choices for healthy oceans. Its recommendations indicate which seafood items are “Best Choices,” “Good Alternatives,” and which ones to should “Avoid.”
Recommendations are developed through a science-based process where fisheries and aquaculture operations are assessed against transparent and public Seafood Watch sustainability criteria. During these assessments, Seafood Watch analysts review the best available scientific information including government reports and journal articles, and then fishery and aquaculture experts are contacted for information and data.
“The seafood choices we make as individuals have a direct impact on ocean health. Though it was once thought that the world’s supply of seafood could never be exhausted, today’s growing global demand for seafood has placed the oceans under severe pressure,” she told Gulf Seafood News.
Packard says that not all seafood is caught or farmed equally. According to the State of Fisheries and Aquaculture Report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, nearly two-thirds of the world’s assessed fish stocks are overfished or cannot sustain additional fishing pressure. Bycatch – the unintended capture of marine life in fishing gear intended for other species – is having a serious impact on ocean wildlife, particularly long-lived animals such as sea turtles, sharks, marine mammals and seabirds. In addition, some fishing methods are destructive to ocean habitat, including the seafloor and coral reefs.
“The seafood choices we make as individuals have a direct impact on ocean health. Though it was once thought that the world’s supply of seafood could never be exhausted, today’s growing global demand for seafood has placed the oceans under severe pressure,” she told Gulf Seafood News. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
In recent years farmed seafood has surpassed the supply from wild-caught fisheries, and is predicted to continue growing rapidly. While responsible aquaculture operations are making changes that improve environmental performance, the global growth in demand is increasing the scale of aquaculture production worldwide, raising concerns about potential negative impacts; including release of chemicals to the environment, habitat destruction to create farms, and the introduction of non-native species.
“The United States imports 90% of our seafood, and over half of those imports are from non-U.S. aquaculture operations. Seafood Watch, which rates seafood items that are important to the U.S. market, has grown over the past 15 years to be the most recognized – and respected – source of science-based information for consumers, chefs and businesses who want to make seafood choices that support healthy oceans and healthy fishing communities,” she said about the program.
Seafood Watch current has close to 200 partners in its business program. These include restaurants, retailers and suppliers who have committed to sourcing and selling only seafood from the Seafood Watch green or yellow list. Photo: ©MBA/Randy Wilder
Seafood Watch currently has close to 200 partners in its business program. These include restaurants, retailers and suppliers who have committed to sourcing and selling only seafood from the Seafood Watch green or yellow list. The staff at Seafood Watch assist businesses in aligning their purchases with the program’s sustainable seafood recommendations. In addition, an estimated 1,700 businesses at more than 150,000 unique locations across North America refer to Seafood Watch recommendations either independently or via partnerships with colleague non-governmental organizations (NGO), including a number in the Gulf.
“The Seafood Watch mission is to engage and empower consumers and businesses to purchase ocean friendly/environmentally responsible seafood,” explained Packard. “It is our long term hope that businesses will continue to make and follow through on commitments to source sustainable seafood, and that these decisions will ultimately drive fisheries and aquaculture operations to become more environmentally friendly, contributing to the long-term health of ocean ecosystems.”
Program Not Without Critics
The highly successful and visible program has not come without critics. There has been industry organization push back against some of it efforts. After publication of a Sustainable Sushi Guide, the National Fisheries Institute, a seafood industry trade group, wrote the guides were “confusing and contradictory”, adding that they didn’t fully take into account the economic, environmental and social aspects of seafood sustainability.
The highly successful and visible program has not come without critics. After publication of a Sustainable Sushi Guide, the National Fisheries Institute, a seafood industry trade group, wrote the guides were “confusing and contradictory”. Photo: MBA
In addition, fishermen, processors and seafood experts, including some across the Gulf, have expressed concerns about many of the tactics and costs surrounding Seafood Watch; calling instead for a federally run program to ensure consumer confidence and sustainability.
A recent presidential Memorandum called for a crack down on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, as well as for improvement in transparency and traceability within the seafood supply chain. The Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee has already proposed a national Sustainable Seafood Certification that according to Packard would not compete with Seafood Watch.
When questioned on whether her organization would be willing to partner or collaborate with a new government program, she said, “Seafood Watch would always be interested in a dialogue about how to work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service to recognize sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.”
According to the Aquarium director, sustainability is crucial if the oceans are to survive. “People have been connected to the ocean through fishing, and through eating seafood, from the time the first humans lived along the coast; having direct impact on the abundance and health of ocean wildlife populations,” she said.
Packard’s lifelong passion for conservation and the natural world has led her to become involved with numerous organizations dedicated to conservation activities. She has served on boards and committees related to conservation, including the California Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund, and the Pew Oceans Commission. Under her leadership the Aquarium is inspiring and engaging the public to become involved in ocean conservation.
Very interesting article. The MBA may be getting better, but for years they have been against many of our fishing practices and have taken it upon themselves to tell us what kind of seafood we should eat and what we should avoid. I don’t recall much if any of their funds being used for stock assessment work and that is truly the only way we can determine the approximate number of fish in the oceans adjacent to the United States. The MBA still lumps the domestic shrimp fishery in with other nations that have not reduced their bycatch and they do not give credit for all the work the commercial fishing industry has done over the years.