News

In 2018, Sea Grant programs came together and created the Integrated Fisheries, Aquaculture and Seafood for a Sustainable and Resilient Future (IFAS) visioning document. We’re half way through this ten-year vision, and since its writing we’ve witnessed a pandemic, growth in aquaculture, and increased focus on DEIJA. There's a lot to talk about in seafood! We’ll start by considering surprises and successes over the last 6 years through our IFAS document, then look forward with new perspectives - the pandemic upended economies worldwide, revealing vulnerable areas of the industry and in our programming. There has been investment in our domestic aquaculture industry, and we'll look at the overlap and synergies between fisheries, aquaculture, and seafood processors. As others in our network have acknowledged, all three sectors have commonalities that start at the plate and move back through the supply chain to support our working waterfronts. Our programs and regions have differing perspectives and experience with the intersections of sport, commercial and subsistence resource access and use, but the undertones are common. During the second part of the IFAS session, we’ll examine DEIJA principles from the perspectives of seafood producers and seafood consumers. We’ll look at who is harvesting and has access to the blue economy and who is eating and has access to US seafood. We’ll examine what our various roles have been in these areas, and come up with ways that we can add value that reflects back into the Sea Grant model.