As the executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Julie Packard has redefined its role as a powerful force for conservation. Photo: MBA
This is the second 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
With a love of the sea since college, Julie Packard has been a leader for the environmental protection of the world’s oceans and the seafood they produce. As the executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, she has redefined its role as a powerful force for conservation.
After graduating with degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford in 1934, Bill Hewlett (r) and David Packard forged a friendship during a two-week camping and fishing trip in Colorado. Photo: HP
Packard is one of four children of Lucile and David Packard, a co-founder of technology giant Hewlett-Packard. With the help of her sister, she was instrumental in convincing their parents to form the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation, and help fund its new building, an independent ocean research institute and the aquarium’s Seafood Watch program.
With nearly two million visitors a year, the aquarium concentrates on three major initiatives: its public exhibits, extensive ecosystem-based education programs for students and teachers, and its ocean policy and research programs, including Seafood Watch. It receives no public operating funds for any of its work, and only limited grant funding for specific programs.
Fifteen years ago, when the Seafood Watch program was started, there was little interest in seafood and sustainability. Today, sustainable and traceable seafood programs are everywhere you look, including the Gulf of Mexico. Seafood Watch is aimed at providing information to consumers and businesses so as they can make choices for healthy oceans. Increasingly, the focus is on business partners who can leverage their purchasing power to influence seafood supply chains.
Seafood Watch recommendations are developed through a science-based process where fisheries and aquaculture operations are assessed against transparent and public sustainability criteria. The Seafood Watch rating categories include: Green – Best Choices, Yellow – Good Alternatives and Red – Avoid.
Impact on the Gulf
Decisions made more than 1000 miles away in Northern California by Seafood Watch have had definite impact on Gulf seafood, fishermen and processors, both good and bad. Recently Gulf Red Snapper was taken off the “red” or “avoid” list due to the efforts of commercial fishermen and the fishery management, while Louisiana-landed shrimp – alone among Gulf shrimp fisheries – was place on the list due to a state prohibition on enforcement of federal fisheries regulations.
“The Gulf of Mexico is an important source of seafood in the U.S. market. Seafood Watch has assessed about 20 fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Packard about the organization’s involvement in the Gulf. Photo: MBA
“The Gulf of Mexico is an important source of seafood in the U.S. market. Seafood Watch has assessed about 20 fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Packard about the organization’s involvement in the Gulf. “For each of these assessments, Seafood Watch analysts interact with the relevant fishery experts in both acquiring data, but also during the peer review process.”
According to Packard, Seafood Watch applauds the efforts of the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force toward finding a solution for the shrimp red listing. “It is our understanding that despite the Task Force’s recommendation to repeal the turtle exclusion device (TED) prohibition, the Governor maintains it. Should the Governor repeal the TED enforcement prohibition, Seafood Watch would take this new information into account, as it does with all new data, during a reassessment of the Louisiana shrimp fishery,” she said.
“Currently, our red-rating policy prevents Whole Foods Market from purchasing wild-caught shrimp from Louisiana suppliers,” David Pilat, global seafood buyer for Whole Foods Market. Photo: Whole Foods
Retail buyers closely follow the organization’s recommendations; including retail giant Whole Foods, which has recently stopped purchasing Louisiana landed shrimp.
“Currently, our red-rating policy prevents Whole Foods Market from purchasing wild-caught shrimp from Louisiana suppliers,” David Pilat, global seafood buyer for Whole Foods Market, told Gulf Seafood News about the Seafood Watch listing. “We stopped selling all red-rated seafood in 2012 as one major step toward having fully sustainable seafood departments.”
“The world is watching our industry and taking notice, so it is time we take notice. At some point in the future the Louisiana legislature is going to have to address the issue and pass legislation that is acceptable to both the fishermen and environmentalists,” said Larry Avery managing partner of Gulf Island Shrimp & Seafood in Lake Charles.
The Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper got a little less “Red” when Seafood Watch removed the fishery from their ‘Avoid’ or “Red” list.
On the complex issue surrounding Gulf Red Snapper quotas, the aquarium director said it was important to have a complete picture of the fishing effort from both recreational and commercial sides of the fishery in order to set accurate limits and ensure the long-term sustainability of the fishery.
“Commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico have been working to rebuild the stock, improve safety, reduce discards and ensure a year-round supply of fresh wild caught red snapper,” said TJ Tate, sustainability director of Gulf Wild. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
“Commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico have been working to rebuild the stock, improve safety, reduce discards and ensure a year-round supply of fresh wild caught red snapper,” said TJ Tate, sustainability director of Gulf Wild, and organization working closely with Seafood Watch.
Seafood Watch staff sits on the Gulf Wild Conservation Standards Committee, and the aquarium has promoted Gulf fisheries and Fishery Improvement Projects at its annual celebrity chef event, Cooking for Solutions.
One of CookingLight.com’s ’20 Food Hero’s’, an honor shared with Gulf Seafood Institute’s (GSI) Jim Gossen, chairman of Sysco Louisiana Foods, Packard says she has never been on a commercial Gulf fishing vessel but would welcome the opportunity. In response Margaret Henderson, GSI’s executive director, immediately extended an invitation for her and her leadership team to visit with Gulf fishermen aboard their shrimp, oyster or red snapper boats as they go about their harvesting, as well as with Gulf charter captains.
“I would like to take this opportunity to invite the executive director and her staff to view firsthand the hardworking Gulf fishermen,” said Henderson about the invitation. “It is important for her and her staff to view firsthand what we are doing to keep the Gulf fisheries sustainable for future generations.”
Louisiana Shrimp Task Force member Lance Nacio, owner of Anna Marie Seafood in Dulac, LA, also extended a personal invitation to Parker to visit his Louisiana shrimp boat. Photo: Ewell Smith
Louisiana Shrimp Task Force member Lance Nacio, owner of Anna Marie Seafood in Dulac, LA, also extended a personal invitation. “I would love the opportunity to take the executive director and her staff out shrimping. I think they would be pleased with our operation as well as the effort and great care we take to be sustainable as well as responsible. It is important for them to see first hand what we, the shrimpers in Louisiana, are doing right,” he explained.
Where stock status is available, federally managed fisheries are recommended as Seafood Watch Best Choices or Good Alternatives. Packardsays Seafood Watch “believes that sustainable wild-capture fisheries should ensure that the abundance of both targeted and incidentally caught species is maintained in the long term at levels that allow the species to fulfill its ecological role while the structure, productivity, function and diversity of the habitat and ecosystem are all maintained.”
Magnuson-Stevens
Management systems should be in place to enforce all local, national and international laws to ensure long-term productivity of the resource and integrity of the ecosystem by adhering to the precautionary approach and responding to changing circumstances. These beliefs are commonly held tenets of sustainable fisheries management, as evidenced by the content of the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act. They are the basis of most of the management regimes of industrialized nations, per the guidance of the United Nation’s FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries Article 6: General Principles.
According to Packard, “To continue our current trajectory in the U.S. toward healthy oceans and thriving fisheries, we must defend the integrity of the Magnuson Stevens Act and prevent efforts to undermine its strong science and conservation provisions.” Photo: MBA
Packard believes the Magnuson-Stevens Act has been a significant success for U.S. fisheries. The 2006 reforms prioritized science-based decision making and led to the reversal of historic fisheries declines, cut the number of over-fished stocks by half, and dramatically increased the volume of seafood landings and recreational fishing trips.
“To continue our current trajectory in the U.S. toward healthy oceans and thriving fisheries, we must defend the integrity of the Act and prevent efforts to undermine its strong science and conservation provisions, including its science-based annual catch limits and accountability measures,” she expounds on the Acts importance. “The U.S. fisheries management system under the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) is one of the strongest in the world. It has also been a major driver behind creating more sustainable U.S. fisheries.”
“Sustainable seafood commitments are now setting a clear market expectation that seafood comes from sustainable fisheries and aquaculture operations that are a clear part of corporate social responsibility commitments,” said Packard. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
Senators Mark Begich of Alaska and Marco Rubio of Florida – the two co-authors of the recent Senate MSA Discussion Draft – have received a significant number of comments on the draft from NGOs, fishermen, seafood industry representatives, and numerous others, including both the Gulf Seafood Institute and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
“We recently met with Sen. Begich and senior congressional staff in DC who informed us that the next draft will include significant changes that reflect this input,” she said. “The Aquarium based our comments on the considerable scientific information and seafood industry experience we’ve amassed over the past 15 years of engagement in the broader sustainable seafood movement.”
The lack of traceability in the seafood supply chain makes it difficult for consumers and businesses to reward better performers and make choices for healthy oceans. The Monterey Bay Aquarium supports industry efforts — such as the National Fisheries Institute and the GS1 initiative — and President Obama’s recent call for improved traceability.
Packard feels that traceability in the Seafood Watch program is its one weakness. “While not a failure of the Seafood Watch program, the lack of traceability in the seafood supply chain makes it difficult for consumers and businesses to reward better performers and make choices for healthy oceans.”
Increasing rigor and expert input into its science-based assessments allows the program to work collaboratively with others to help retailers and food service companies to understand the importance of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture to global ocean health and food security. “Sustainable seafood commitments are now setting a clear market expectation that seafood comes from sustainable fisheries and aquaculture operations that are a clear part of corporate social responsibility commitments,” explain Packard about the legacy seafood sustainablity program she was instrumental in establishing.
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