Alliance Conference is an annual gathering for members of our Global Hub community. This intimate event convenes experts and enthusiasts like you in the responsible seafood movement for an opportunity to explore new developments in the movement, showcase your organization’s current environmental and social responsibility projects and initiatives, and build strategic partnerships with colleagues, old and new.
We invite you to meet us in Cancun, Mexico October 15-18, 2024 for #AC24!
Day Zero Environmental and Social Integration Event: 12:00 – 4:00 PM
To meet increasing demand and interest, The Alliance has designed a half-day session preceding the main agenda to explore the nexus between environmental and social accountability in the responsible seafood movement. This “Day Zero” session is intended for participants in the Alliance’s new Environmental and Social Integration Network as well as all conference attendees interested in fostering the promotion of workers’ rights and social accountability.
Social expert Pamela Wharton will facilitate this interactive session with guest speakers and experts. During our time together, the group will specifically explore how we can promote and develop more comprehensive approaches to ensuring responsible seafood, such as:
- Ensuring that fishers and fisher-led organizations have a seat at the table is critical to ensuring the sustainability of both environmental and social accountability practices. The session will provide an opportunity to hear directly from fishers on how they balance livelihoods, welfare, and environmental sustainability, and how they are organizing to strengthen their influence in global markets and public policies.
- There are several initiatives to promote the inclusion of electronic monitoring and Wi-Fi technologies on fishing vessels to combat both illegal fishing practices and human rights abuses. What does the research and current pilots tell us and how can we speak with one voice to promote the adoption of these technologies?
- Certifications and audits are one tool to promote responsible seafood however, they are not always as effective for identifying labor abuses. What complementary tools exist and can be developed to be used alongside audits to better identify labor abuses, promote fair livelihoods and workers’ rights, and ensure a more sustainable seafood sector?
Please note that you must have RSVP’d for the Day Zero event if you wish to attend.
Lunch: 11:30 – 12:00 PM
Location: Tulum FGH
Part 1: 12:00 – 1:50 PM
Location: Tulum FGH
Social Responsibility, Human + Labor Rights, Worker Voice
How do fisher-led organizations engage government and market actors? How do they propose to protect their rights and welfare? What challenges do they face? The Accountability Research Center collaborated with Confederación Mexicana de Cooperativas de Pesqueras y Acuícolas (CONMECOOP) in Mexico and fisher-led organizations in Ecuador, Ghana, Indonesia, and Thailand to learn from organizers in global seafood supply chains. This panel will share lessons learned from that and other case studies. The discussion will address how fishers balance livelihoods, welfare, and environmental sustainability, and how fishers are organizing to strengthen their influence in global markets and public policies.
Conversation led by Accountability Research Center and CONMECOOP
- Romel Alberto Alcocer Diaz, CONMECOOP (Mexico)
- Roman Antonio Can Pereda, CONMECOOP (Mexico)
- Ilmar Josue Canul Reyes, CONMECOOP (Mexico)
- José Luis Carrillo Galaz, CONMECOOP (Mexico)
- Judy Gearhart, Accountability Research Center (USA)
BREAK: 1:50 – 2:10 PM
Part 2: 2:10 – 4:00 PM
More is more: Combining multiple human rights due diligence tools for greater impact
Location: Tulum FGH
Certification; Social Responsibility, Human + Labor Rights, Worker Voice; Traceability
Mandatory or voluntary? Market-driven or worker-driven? Much of our conversation to date has focused on finding the one approach that is best suited to drive change for workers and communities. What if rather than seeking a silver bullet, we envisioned how to strategically combine tools in the human rights due diligence toolbox to address complex challenges in seafood? During this session, we’ll discuss case studies of how combined approaches have been used successfully in other sectors and work in groups to brainstorm how we could apply a more integrated approach to current opportunities in the seafood sector.
Conversation led by FishChoice, Fish Standard for Crew, Global Seafood Alliance, and Fair Trade USA
- Kenton Harmer, Equitable Food Initiative (Canada)
- Gabrielle Lout, Ocean Outcomes (USA)
- Gretchen Theusen, FairTrade USA (USA)
- Jenifer Jackson, FairTrade USA (USA)
- Jamie Padilla, FishChoice (USA)
Welcome Reception: 5:30 – 7:00 pm
Networking Event
Welcome to Mexico! Please join us at the hotel’s pool lawn to catch up with old friends and meet new colleagues before the conference begins. Light refreshments will be served.
Breakfast: 8:00 – 9:00 aM
Location: Tulum Terrace
Welcome and Opening: 9:00 – 9:30 aM
Location: Tulum FGH
Keynote Plenary Session: 9:30 – 10:30 aM
Location: Tulum FGH
Speakers
- Celina Dominguez Garcia, FEDECOOP (Mexico)
- Javier Van Cauwelaert, Comercializadora SmartFish (Mexico)
Breakout sessions – round one: 10:45 AM – 12:00 PM
Attendees select one breakout session to attend.
Building the Dialogue on Indigenous Rights and Aquaculture
Location: Tulum FGH
Social Responsibility, Human + Labor Rights, Worker Voice; Aquaculture
Speakers
- Andrés Antivil Alvarez, Foundation for Indigenous Enterprises (Chile)
- Froukje Kruijssen, Aquaculture Stewardship Council (Netherlands)
- David Plumb, Consensus Building Institute (USA)
This session will discuss some of the challenges around aquaculture production in Indigenous territories and the recognition of Indigenous rights, in particular the right to Free Prior and Informed Consent. The main theme of the session is around creating dialogue and building partnerships.
There will be three presentations:
- Including Free Prior and Informed Consent in an aquaculture sustainability standard: ASC’s FPIC project
- Indigenous perspective on FPIC and aquaculture production
- Engaging in constructive dialogue on Indigenous rights
We would also like to hear from the audience on this topic and how (aquaculture) certification can play a role.
Expanding data sharing capabilities in small-scale wild-capture and aquaculture; getting to EPCIS
Location: Chichen Itza I-II
Data, Technology, Reporting; Small-Scale; Traceability, IUU Fishing; Aquaculture
Speakers
- Mark Kaplan, WholeChain (USA)
- Nina Rosen, FishWise (USA)
Event-based traceability is the gold standard when capturing traceable data in fisheries and aquaculture. Unfortunately, the systems capturing and sharing this data are often too complex and expensive for small and mid-sized first-mile harvesters and producers to afford. Worse, since these people are at the beginning of the supply chain, lack of adoption of these systems creates data deficiencies that can’t be remedied after-the-fact. The Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability is working to create a resource that will allow these users or those at the next step in the supply chain to import their data from an excel spreadsheet and upconvert it into Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS), the widely used GS1 global data standard which is at the core of the GDST Standard. Listen, learn, and participate as our panel of experts discuss both the challenge and the path to digital interoperable traceability in Seafood.
Lunch Break: 12:00 – 1:00 PM
Location: Tulum Terrace
Plenary Session: 1:00 – 2:15 PM
Experiences from the Yucatan Octopus Fishery: Impacts and synergies of working towards sustainability
Location: Tulum FGH
Fishery Improvement Projects; Small-Scale
Speakers
- Polo Barajas, COBI (Mexico)
- Dr. Miguel Ángel Gamboa-Alvarez, Alianza por el Pulpo en Yucatán (Mexico)
- Ricardo Novelo, Cooperativa Cayo Arenas (Mexico)
- Manolo Sanchez, Maspesca (Mexico)
- Francisco Vergara, Marine Stewardship Council (Mexico)
The Yucatan octopus fishery is the most important in the Mexican southeast and is one of the world´s most significant octopus fisheries. This artisanal fishery, known as the fishery of hope, employs >15,000 fishers. In 2019, a FIP was created to address the problems that had put it at risk. Some challenges persist, but in their path to sustainability, they have resolved several issues and generated synergies to celebrate and learn from. In this session, participants will learn the motivations, expectations, and challenges of working collaboratively that this fishery has, showing useful insights to help drive changes in small-scale fisheries.
Community Lightning Round: 2:30 – 3:30 pM
Location: Tulum FGH
Speakers are assigned tables and provide short 10-minute presentations. Attendees rotate tables three times.
Speaker: Sheila S. Senathirajah, Senior Manager, ISEAL
Sheila works at ISEAL, a global membership association for credible sustainability standards. She works as a Senior Manager within the Innovations team focussed on working with members to better understand and identify strategies to drive the uptake of sustainable practices. Within ISEAL, she oversees the work on Livelihoods which includes the facilitation of the Living Income Community of Practice (LICoP), a community founded through a partnership between The Sustainable Food Lab, GIZ, and ISEAL aimed at supporting activities focused on improving small-scale producer incomes towards achieving a decent standard of living.
Speaker: Phillip Sanchez, Bycatch Programs Coordinator, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
Dr. Phillip Sanchez works with Sustainable Fisheries Partnership highlighting bycatch problems within the seafood sourcing data of seafood retailers and suppliers with the intent to create actionable opportunities to reduce bycatch within identified fisheries. As the SFP Bycatch Solutions Hub Manager, he works with NGOs, FIPs, gear manufacturers, fishers, and other on-the-ground organizations to develop work plans that implement proven bycatch mitigation gears and best practices within fisheries that can be supported by relevant seafood industry stakeholders. Phillip has spent the last decade working in marine fisheries in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. He has an MS in Marine Science from the University of Puerto Rico, a PhD in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University, both centered around marine fishery management, and is now based in Panama.
Speaker: Catherine Pigeon-Dubeau, Senior Supply Chain Innovation Manager, MSC
Catherine Pigeon-Dubeau is the Senior Supply Chain Innovation Manager at the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). As part of the MSC’s forward-thinking supply chain innovation team, her role includes developing innovative ways to harness technological advances and digitalization efforts to evolve the MSC Chain of Custody program and enhance traceability practices across seafood supply chains. Based in the UK, Catherine leads global partner and stakeholder engagement, ensuring strong collaboration and consultation on key components of the project. Before this role, Catherine worked for the MSC in eastern Canada, supporting MSC-certified fisheries and supply chain partners. Her experience focuses on marine conservation and sustainable fisheries management in a wide range of contexts.
Speaker: Michelle Cho, Director, BalanceBlue Lab, Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium
Michelle Cho has more than eighteen years of experience researching the health and environmental impacts of commercial global fisheries and partnering with the seafood industry. As part of the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium’s BalanceBlue Lab, Michelle’s objective is to advance the uptake of technological and other innovative techniques to help mitigate and reduce the impacts of human activities on the ocean.
Speaker: Ethan Lucas, Project Director, FishWise
As a 12-year veteran at FishWise, Ethan has developed and led sustainable seafood partnerships with Target, Hy-Vee, and many other businesses in the retail, hospitality, and mid-supply chain sectors. Additional work includes representing FishWise in the NGO Tuna Forum and tracking fishery improvement projects for the organization. Ethan became involved in wild capture fisheries at a young age on Cape Cod, MA and later transitioned focus to work with the seafood industry to improve various aspects of environmental sustainability, traceability, and social responsibility. Ethan holds a B.S. in Aquaculture and Fisheries Technology from the University of Rhode Island, a Master of Marine Affairs from the University of Washington, a Knauss Fellowship at NOAA Coral Reef Watch, and completed three years of U.S. Peace Corps service in the Philippines.
Speaker: Jill Swasey, Director of Impacts, Monitoring & Evaluation, ASC
Jill Swasey has worked as a marine scientist for twenty years involved with data collection, analysis, and communication of seafood sustainability. Her project work has incorporated research and analysis of policy and management of federal fisheries, assessment against sustainability criteria, and management and policy evaluation. Ms. Swasey has coordinated working groups aimed at developing indicators for fisheries management, risk evaluation, stakeholder engagement, and identifying best practices in fisheries and aquaculture. Ms. Swasey joined the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) in 2020 to head the organization’s Monitoring and Evaluation team.
Speaker: Eric Walton, Senior Associate International Fisheries Markets, The Pew Charitable Trusts
Eric Walton supports Pew’s engagement with the marketplace through the international fisheries project. He works with seafood supply chain members to advocate for key policies and management measures aimed at ensuring the long-term health of fisheries and ocean ecosystems. Before joining Pew, he led high-end sales to chefs and retail outlets and processed fish for a traceable seafood startup in Maine, and taught at various environmental and marine education organizations. Walton holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy and creative writing from Colby College and a master’s degree in marine biodiversity and conservation from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Speaker: Oscar Zamora, Scientific Consultant, Blueyou Impact
Oscar Zamora’s work is looking for science-based solutions towards fisheries’ sustainability. Oscar holds a Ph. D in marine science and his career includes working with a variety of public and private organizations from local to global scope with a focus on fisheries ecology in Latin America. At Blueyou, Oscar, in his role as a scientific consultant, is responsible for assessing the ecological performance of fisheries worldwide as well as managing Blueyou’s Seafood Climate Impact Program in which LCA-based environmental footprints of seafood origins are calculated with exceptional data granularity. Further, Oscar is a lecturer at the Facultad de Ciencias del Mar at the Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa.
Speaker: Stephanie J. Rousso, PhD Candidate, Marine Ecologist, Blue Turtle Sustainable, LLC
Stephanie, originally from the USA, has spent the past 14 years leading grant-funded research in Baja Sur, México. She received her Masters degree in Marine Resource Management from the Polytechnic Center for Marine Science in La Paz and currently finishing her PhD research aimed at enhancing understanding of bycatch susceptibility in Mexican small-scale fisheries. Her expertise lies in participatory science, focusing on endangered species conservation, particularly sea turtles and elasmobranchs. Her research is culminating into a certification which empowers fishers to access premium seafood markets and foster a culture shift towards responsible, wild, and traceable seafood in Northwest Mexico.
Speaker: Nahla Achi, Senior Project Manager, FishWise
As Senior Project Manager, Nahla develops guidance to promote decent work in the seafood sector. Before joining FishWise, Nahla worked at the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions on marine resource conflicts and labor issues in tuna supply chains. Her interest in human rights started while studying International Relations and Human Rights, with a focus on understanding how industries with complex supply chains address labor issues. She pursued an M.A. in Earth Systems to explore the intersection of human rights and environmental issues and equip herself to work in the seafood space, where sustainability and social responsibility are often interlinked.
Speaker: Aline Molina, Pesca Con Futuro, COMPESCA
Aline Molina is a graduate of the Food Engineering program at UNAM, with 10 years of experience in the food industry and 9 years in the fishing sector. She has developed expertise in quality systems, food safety management, and food labeling, among other areas, and has successfully certified plants in ISO 22000, FSSC 22000, SENASICA, and Kosher. Currently, she works in the coordination area of COMEPESCA, AC, serving as the liaison between members and the organization to establish close communication on various actions aimed at promoting the consumption of national and sustainable seafood.
RESPONSIBLE SEAFOOD AWARDS: 3:30 – 4:00 pM
Location: Tulum FGH
Join us as we honor members of our community who are making waves and demonstrating leadership in the movement.
Celebration of women in Seafood: 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Location: Adult Pool Lawn
Networking Event
Everyone is invited to this event celebrating the incredible women in seafood worldwide. Co-hosted by Seafood and Gender Equality and the Conservation Alliance, canapes and cocktails will be served!
Sponsored by
Breakfast: 8:00 – 9:00 aM
Location: Tulum Terrace
Networking Roundtables: 9:00 – 9:50 aM
Location: Tulum FGH
Networking Event
Join your favorite experts and enthusiasts from our community for lively discussions on
- Addressing greenhouse emissions in the seafood industry
- Communication networking for connection and impact
- Cultivating collaborative leadership and peer support for NGO/civil society organization leaders
- Gender equality in the seafood sector
- Grievance mechanisms: how can we work together across the industry to provide initiatives?
- Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA)
- Let’s talk FIPs!
- Ocean disclosure: what should companies report publicly, and how can we use this information?
- Small-scale producer engagement and improvement of livelihoods, inclusion & empowerment
Solutions for Seafood Workshops: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Attendees select one workshop session to attend.
Establishing Best Practices for Buyers to Drive Environmental Sustainability and Social Responsibility in Small Scale Fisheries
Location: Tulum FGH
Business Engagement, Partnerships; Fishery Improvement Projects; Small-Scale; Social Responsibility, Human + Labor Rights, Worker Voice
Workshop Leads
- Sergio Castro, Marativa (Mexico)
- Celina Dominguez Garcia, FEDECOOP (Mexico)
- Adriana Sanchez, Seafood Ninja, Inc., (USA)
- Javier Van Cauwelaert, Comercializadora SmartFish (Mexico)
The workshop aims to draw on the experiences of companies that source from small-scale fisheries and aquaculture to develop guidelines for best practices that drive environmental sustainability and social responsibility. First buyers have a large influence on the practices of small-scale producers. Buyers can incentivize best practices by understanding the needs of and partnering with producers to support resource stewardship and economic well-being. First buyers can also trap producers in cycles of debt that fuel the race to fish. What recommendations do Alliance Hub members have for buyers at different stages of the supply chain?
Making the Sustainable Seafood Data Tool More Effective for the Global Hub
Location: Chichen Itza I-II
Certification, Ratings, Standards; Data, Technology, Reporting; Social Responsibility, Human + Labor Rights, Worker Voice
Workshop Leads
- Erika Feller, Marine Stewardship Council (USA)
- Danielle Lewis, Springboard Partners (USA)
- Kiel Edson, Monterey Bay Aquarium (USA)
- Froukje Kruijssen, Aquaculture Stewardship Council (Netherlands)
- Ed Walz, Springboard Partners (USA)
The Certification & Ratings Collaboration’s Sustainable Seafood Data Tool compiles information from multiple sources about environmental performance and human rights abuses and risks in global seafood production. During this interactive, focus group-style session, we will explore how members of the Global Hub are using the environmental and social components of the data tool and what improvements would make the data tool a more effective resource for the community.
Charting the Course: How can blue innovation support the Alliance’s vision of responsible seafood?
Location: Uxmal I-II
Data, Technology, Reporting
Workshop Leads
- Lena Weiss, Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium (USA)
- Michelle Cho, Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium (USA)
Innovation that improves the collection, analysis, and dissemination of ocean and coastal data can support economic growth while helping solve critical issues in sustainable seafood. This session will provide an overview of emerging themes and challenges in blue innovation, followed by a discussion of ways in which we can best connect blue innovation with potential end-users, catalyzing meaningful change on the water. Example topics include AI, novel aquafeed ingredients, bycatch reduction solutions, and seafood traceability and management software. The workshop’s findings will be incorporated into ongoing initiatives and will provide the Global Hub with meaningful engagement opportunities in the future.
Lunch Break: 12:00 – 1:00 PM
Keynote Plenary Session: 1:00 – 2:00 PM
Location: Tulum FGH
Speaker
José Luis Carrillo Galaz, Confederación Mexicana de Cooperativas de Pesqueras y Acuícolas (CONMECOOP) (Mexico)
Meeting Concludes: 2:00 PM
Optional organized afternoon activities will be shared closer to the event date. You may also utilize the conference room space for side meetings; please contact Meaghan Hudgins to reserve.
Breakfast: 8:00 – 9:00 aM
Location: Tulum Terrace
Plenary Session: 9:00 – 10:15 aM
Location: Tulum FGH
The Future of Funding for Sustainable Seafood
Hear from a diverse panel of representatives from the funding community about the various resource opportunities that exist to support our work, future trends they are anticipating for our movement, and where these institutions are prioritizing their resources over the next 5-10 years.
Speakers
- Don Grant, Cuna Del Mar (USA)
- Sarah Hogan, David and Lucille Packard Foundation (USA)
- Roxanne Nanninga, Blue Biome Advising (USA)
- Leo Pradela, Walton Family Foundation (USA)
- Gracie White, CI Ventures (USA)
- Chelsea Scantlan, Walmart.org (USA)
Breakout sessions – round three: 10:20 – 11:35 AM
Attendees select one breakout session to attend.
Electronic Monitoring & WiFi Solutions for Environmental Sustainability and Crew Welfare
Location: Chichen Itza I-II
Electronic Monitoring & WiFi; Solutions for Environmental Sustainability; Crew Welfare
Speakers
- Sharlene Chen, Humanity Research Consultancy (United Kingdom)
- Rob Johnson, Fisheries and Aquaculture, The Nature Conservancy (Canada)
- Gabrielle Lout, Ocean Outcomes (USA)
- Sunny Tellwright, Conservational International (USA)
The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, Ocean Outcomes, and Humanity Research Consultancy are collaborating on a project to prototype and trial electronic monitoring and Wi-Fi technologies in the fisheries sector to combat both illegal fishing practices and human rights abuses. Sunny Tellwright will introduce the research elements exploring EM for social responsibility. Gabrielle Lout will present on the EM and WiFi pilot and integration with social responsibility assessments. Rob Johnson will present on the Nature Conservancy’s Tuna Transparency Pledge and wider EM work. Mina Chiang will present on the importance of Wi-Fi for crew welfare and project interview results.
How Can We Accelerate FIP Progress?
Fishery Improvement Projects; Certification, Ratings, Standards; Accountability
Speakers
- OB Bera, Beacon Fisheries (Mexico)
- Erika Feller, Marine Stewardship Council (USA)
- Laura Elizabeth Ibarra García, Pronatura Noroeste (Mexico)
- Jesse Marsh, FIP Community of Practice (USA)
- Kristin Sherwood, FishChoice (USA)
Fishery improvement projects are an important tool for addressing environmental and social challenges in fisheries. Overcoming these challenges requires a lot of support from fishers, governments, NGOs, and industry. FIPs progress can stall for many reasons; from the need for funding and appropriate incentives to challenging and changing external conditions. FIPs play a significant role in many buyers’ responsible sourcing policies and its critical FIPs are supported, encouraged, and held accountable for making progress toward certification or other end goals. During this session, we’ll explore why FIPs stall and brainstorm ways different sectors of the Global Hub can advance progress.
Plenary Session – Conference Closing: 11:40 aM – 12:00 PM
Lunch Break: 12:00 – 1:00 PM
Location: Tulum Terrace
Please note the agenda is subject to change.
Thank you to our sponsor for their generous support of this year’s Alliance Conference
