Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, Inc.

Our main vehicle for connecting with the public are our Seafood Throwdowns, a dynamic and engaging educational cooking competition that has been growing in popularity since 2008.

We need to change the current food, policy, and economic systems in order to bring about the changes we need to have a future that positively impacts our marine ecosystems and community based fishermen. In order to change these systems, we must engage all stakeholders who impact and are impacted by these systems.

The people who feed us, farmers and fishers alike, play an essential role in our society but we are far more disconnected from our food producers than ever before. Changing our food systems requires engaging the public to shift markets, cultivate community, and make more informed decisions. Changing our regulatory systems requires educating the public about policies of corporatization, consolidation and privatization and empowering and engaging citizens to make a difference.

As NAMA, we provide backbone support to the Fish Locally Collaborative (FLC), a network that connects nearly 400,000+ fishing families around the US, as well as in Canada, Latin America, and Europe. The FLC uses a collaborative, decentralized model of organizing to share resources and power that enable us all to work toward a shared purpose. The FLC is a non-entity that does not speak on behalf of the network but rather generates collaboration so that people can speak on behalf of themselves and together. This model allows us to most effectively enhance our common values and vision and to take action whenever possible.

Neo-liberal policies and antiquated market strategies are compromising our ecological goals, privatizing our ocean commons, and undermining the economic resiliency of coastal communities, particularly for independent small and medium scale fishermen. From the start, NAMA has opposed privatization of fishing rights and consolidation of the fishing industry. In fact, one of our core founding values was to recognize the marine ecosystem as a public resource and that access to this resource is a privilege, not a property right.

We envision a future in which vibrant and viable fishing communities are thriving and supporting community-based fishermen. A future in which fishermen are economically empowered, with the compensation for their catch meeting the true cost of operations. A future in which fishworkers along the seafood value chain and crew are paid fairly, have safe working conditions free of threats, racism, and intimidation, and have a voice in the workplace.

The language of today's marine conservation movement is not written with racial equity and food justice in mind. And fisheries policies are from just and equitable. If we are serious about protecting the ocean, we must address inequities and injustices in the system.