Faces of Sustainable Seafood

Seafood harvesters are stewards of our ocean. Their livelihoods depend on healthy, thriving marine ecosystems. They have a unique knowledge of the ocean, which they pass on to their communities and down through generations. These harvesters are at the forefront of ensuring food security, providing jobs, and supporting the well-being of both the ocean they work in and the communities they feed.

Across the country, fishermen, farmers, chefs, and educators are working to keep fishing heritage alive while inspiring new generations to value the bounties of our coastal waters. In our seafood tips article, experts from the Atlantic coast share their stories and tips for making seafood a bigger part of your life—no matter where you live.

U.S. shrimp are a sustainable seafood option and the United States sets a global precedent for shrimp trawl bycatch reduction. Learn the facts about wild-caught American shrimp, including what makes it a culturally important economic engine for sustainable seafood communities.

A team of local fishermen and NOAA scientists worked together to develop the first-ever standardized, fishery-independent bottomfish survey in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Combining different skill sets, both groups gained valuable insights into the fishery, fish behavior, and biology.

The Pacific Islands Fisheries Group’s Tag It project is harnessing the power of anglers across Hawai‘i. The fishermen-led program has tagged 20,000 fish throughout the Hawaiian archipelago and in the Pacific, including Guam and Saipan. Their efforts provide critical data to help fishermen, scientists, and resource managers better understand the health of fish populations.

Seafood farming—or aquaculture—is the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of animals and plants in all types of water environments. Just like farmers on land, ocean farmers work long days—in snow, ice, heatwaves, and during 3 a.m. low tides—to feed the nation with their harvests.

For 20 years, Weatherly Bates and her family have raised oysters, kelp, and mussels in the cold, pristine waters of Kachemak Bay, Alaska. Their goal with Alaska Shellfish Farms is simple: grow delicious food while helping build a healthier ocean for generations to come.

Both commercial and recreational fishing for abalone are now prohibited due to declining populations. The Cultured Abalone Farm helps preserve California’s culinary heritage by raising red abalone to supply restaurants along the coast. Staff from the farm partner with NOAA Fisheries on aquaculture education and abalone restoration efforts.

Thomas and Sean Piecuch’s Holy Ground Oyster Company is a father-son oyster farm in coastal Mississippi that blends family, science, and sustainability. Their farm, in the nutrient-rich waters of the Gulf, aims to scale responsibly, build local job opportunities, and bring fresh oysters from tide to table while restoring coastal health.

After a corporate career in New York City, Suzie Flores is now making a splash in the aquaculture sector. She and her husband own and operate the Stonington Kelp Company where they grow sugar kelp, a native brown macroalgae. Visit their Tide to Table profile to learn more about their farm.

Seafood processors and distributors, both large and small, play a critical role in seafood supply chains. Retailers, restaurants, and consumers rely on these businesses to transform a raw resource into food that’s ready to cook (or eat!). These businesses serve an important role in making seafood available to consumers across geographic and socioeconomic regions.

Cassie Canastra Larsen is helping carry forward her family’s deep-rooted New Bedford legacy—the seafood auction they founded in 1994, and their newest chapter: Canastra Fishing Co. Their family-run operations uphold fair prices for fishermen and deliver quality seafood to buyers.

As a second-generation fishmonger, seafood has always been part of Lyf Gildersleeve’s life and identity. His parents opened Flying Fish Company in Sandpoint, Idaho in 1979. Today, Flying Fish has grown from a family fish market to locations in three states. Across locations, Flying Fish is passionate about connecting people with fresh, sustainable seafood and the stories behind it. Learn more about Flying Fish and hear from other seafood experts from the Pacific coast.

Honolulu Fish Company specializes in overnight shipping of hand-selected, sashimi-grade fish—directly from the Honolulu pier to kitchens nationwide. Their unique access to the Honolulu Fish Auction and decades-long partnerships allow them to provide top-tier, traceable seafood.

Captain Brady Lybarger, an experienced second-generation commercial fisherman, and his wife Amanda started selling scallops from the back of their truck. Today, the thriving family-run market offers seasonal catches and gourmet goods, all sourced directly from American fishermen. Learn more about their market.

Selling seafood directly to consumers, markets, or restaurants can help strengthen community connections and protect our domestic seafood supply against disruptions. We caught up with direct marketing operations on the East and West Coasts to learn about how they are building community connections and increasing access to sustainable seafood.

There’s a community connection when chefs meet their customers at their tables—or in their homes through cookbooks. They use their dishes to tell the stories of local farms, working waterfronts, and food security. These culinary professionals are opening new channels of communication to increase our understanding of sustainable seafood.

Chef Renée Trafton of Beak Restaurant in Sitka, Alaska crafts menus that celebrate sustainable, small-boat-caught seafood. Inspired by a lifelong love of seafood, she highlights local ingredients and communities at her seafood-focused restaurant. Read how NOAA Fisheries helps support her mission and hear from other Pacific coast seafood experts.

Bonney Lake High School’s culinary team is taking seafood to the next level, creating a winning dish that highlights sablefish farmed from the pristine waters of NOAA Fisheries’ Manchester Research Station. Learn more about their recipe development project that won first place at the Washington State Culinary Competition.

Crew Restaurant Group’s menus celebrate the full spectrum of ocean flavors. From porgy and tilefish to squid and skate, Chef Kerry’s dishes highlight species often overlooked or caught incidentally. Learn new seafood recipes from culinary experts around the nation, and find out why sustainable seafood matters to them.

What if your next seafood recipe came with the story of how it was grown? Supported by the eeBLUE Aquaculture Literacy Mini-Grants Program, Farmers MAI-Kit blends farm tours, cooking demos, and conversations with farmers into one tasty way to learn about aquaculture.

Whether it’s out on the farm, on their boats, or in their hatcheries, seafood community members are often the first to notice small shifts in the environment that can lead to big changes to the resources on which we all rely. These cooperative researchers bridge the gap between seafood communities and academic and research institutions—contributing valuable tools and experience to the development of resource management options.

Just off Hawaiʻi Island's west coast, netted structures mark the presence of a burgeoning open-ocean aquaculture industry. Blue Ocean Mariculture, the sole commercial offshore finfish aquaculture facility in U.S. waters, uses these submersible sea pens to raise Hawaiian kanpachi. This fish, also known as almaco jack or kahala, is prized by chefs globally. The pens have also attracted Hawaiian monk seals, leading NOAA Fisheries to collaborate with Blue Ocean to study seal behavior around the pens using remote cameras and AI.

A program in Hawai‘i is working to increase food security and reduce food waste by using every part of the fish, from bone marrow to blood lines—even making the skin into leather! Hear about the project, funded by NOAA’s Saltonstall-Kennedy Research and Development Program, in their Dive In with NOAA Fisheries podcast episode: Reducing Waste and Feeding Communities in Hawaiʻi with a Whole Fish Approach.

NOAA’s Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey combines two coast-wide surveys into one, to collect the data we need for sustainable fisheries management. The survey—which studies fish from Canada to Mexico—also partners with fishing industry leaders to develop and adapt advanced tools that gather improved data in less time and at lower cost.

Across the United States, anglers and conservation groups are collaborating to improve fish survival during catch-and-release fishing through proper handling, hook removal, and gear selection. Programs like Return ‘Em Right provide training and outreach to help anglers reduce stress and injury to released fish. The importance of this work is reflected in the voices of boat captains, researchers, inventors, and partners in these videos.

In the classroom, outside in the field, and in museums and aquariums, education plays a vital role in bridging the gap between science and the seafood on our plates. These programs help foster deep connections that inspire informed decisions, working to ensure that both marine ecosystems and the seafood industry thrive for years to come.

Martha's Vineyard Shellfish Group connects young people to marine science through hands-on learning. With support from an eeBLUE Aquaculture Literacy Mini-Grant, they participated in 40 programs and events, offering season-long opportunities that weave together different areas of the shellfish industry to help their communities understand sustainable aquaculture.

With funding from NOAA and the North American Association for Environmental Education’s eeBLUE Program, Saltwater Classroom partnered with Nauti Sisters Sea Farm to launch Oyster Farm Pioneer, a learning badge for grades 3-6 on their online Ocean Literacy platform launching this fall. To experience the platform and dive into aquaculture literacy, head to saltwaterclassroom.com and follow along @SaltwaterClassroom on Instagram for updates.

Today, Mark and his wife Lisa focus on bridging science, seafood, and storytelling through their company Tagal Oceanic. With support from the eeBLUE Aquaculture Literacy Grants Program, Mark and Lisa partnered with local schools to educate the students on factors influencing ocean-farmed seafoodʻs flavor and practical ways to incorporate these ingredients into meals or menu planning. Read about their award-winning partnership.

For more than 30 years, NOAA’s Teacher at Sea program has placed educators aboard NOAA research vessels, where they work alongside scientists studying fish populations. By helping collect data, teachers gain firsthand knowledge of sustainable fisheries management and bring that experience back to their classrooms to inspire future stewards of our oceans.

Here at NOAA, we have no shortage of people passionate about sustainable seafood. Through collaborative engagement with partners across the supply chain, we work to ensure consumers can enjoy delicious, healthy sustainable seafood.

NOAA Fisheries Office of Aquaculture contributes cutting-edge science and research, communications and policy expertise, and international leadership to support the growing aquaculture industry.  By expanding domestic aquaculture to complement wild-harvest fisheries, NOAA is driving an America-first approach that creates jobs, supports coastal communities, and ensures high-quality, homegrown seafood for American families.

Fisheries staff from Washington, Oregon, and California Sea Grants partnered to launch Discover West Coast Seafood. The website features information about the species caught and farmed on the West Coast, along with harvester profiles, recipes, and where to find local seafood, all designed to help consumers explore their local seafood options and make informed choices.

NOAA Fisheries and our partners enforce compliance and combat seafood fraud through investigations and advanced field testing, so that U.S. consumers receive accurately labeled, legally caught, and sustainably sourced seafood. We are also working to ensure U.S. seafood is competitive on the global market and other countries are held to similar standards.

In 2024, the Northwest Fisheries Science Center's Marine Forensic Laboratory completed a rigorous independent assessment by the respected international Society for Wildlife Forensic Science. Notably, the Society found that both the Charleston and Seattle sites fully complied with their rigorous standards and guidelines for wildlife forensic sciences. This significant milestone highlights the lab's dedication to scientific excellence, compliance with international wildlife forensic science standards, and its critical role in marine conservation.

The Pacific Islands Region Observer Program marked its 30th anniversary in 2024. Observers collect data on fishermen’s effort and catch, as well as incidental, or unintentional, interactions with protected species like sea turtles and marine mammals. But the program wouldn’t be where it is today without the pioneering observers from the first class of graduates in 1994. Read an interview with Tonya Wick, the region’s first official observer, to look back on the program’s early days.

Each year, we update Faces of Sustainable Seafood to highlight new stories and communities.

Explore our archive of previously featured faces of sustainable seafood