My name is Adriana Sánchez. Some colleagues know me as Seafood Ninja (hence the name that stuck,) and I am the former Sustainability Director for Sea Delight, LLC, and the President the Sea Delight Ocean Fund, Inc, both family businesses based in Miami, FL. In these roles, I had the opportunity to attend a variety of international workshops to discuss seafood sustainability and present a strong case for supporting Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) worldwide. I also worked with FishWise to help shape Sea Delight’s company policies for seafood sustainability and traceability as well as develop strong business relationships with Sea Delight’s customers’ NGO partners in order to serve their seafood sustainability commitments.
During this journey, I have learned that there is a certain gap/disconnect between the work NGOs are committed to, and the industry they are trying to engage. I often see the usual companies at supplier roundtables or attending FIP workshops, and wonder how we can successfully reach the middle of the supply chain and companies that are interested in joining the seafood sustainability movement but they do not know where to start.
Before a company is able to make commitments and decisions about their sourcing practices and how they can improve the fisheries they source from, they first need to undergo a process of looking “inwards” at their business practices so that they can develop a strategy that makes sense for their business and that is in line with their company culture and their customer’s needs.
Unfortunately, many companies shy away from engaging in seafood sustainability because they “fear” the movement, they may feel it’s too “expensive,” or perhaps it is simply “too confusing.”
I believe that in order to have a meaningful impact in the fisheries we are trying to improve, we need to have strength in numbers and have commitments from industry players across the supply chain.
This is where I come in. I want to do for other companies, what I accomplished for Sea Delight and help bridge the gap between businesses and NGOs by helping companies to strategize, focus, and commit.
Most importantly, my goal is to advocate for industry interests in the larger conversation and find common goals across sectors that we can support and would benefit everyone.