With new director, sustainability group Sea Pact puts new strategy in motion

Earlier this month, Sea Pact, a group of 10 North American seafood companies committed to advancing sustainability, named Sam Grimley as its new executive director.

Grimley has served as a sustainability advisor to Sea Pact since its inception in 2013. His hiring comes as Sea Pact is preparing for a new strategic growth initiative to develop its grant programs, outreach and partnerships.

IntraFish caught up with Grimley to learn more about the direction Sea Pact will take under his leadership.

Tell us about this strategic plan. Why is it being implemented now and what are its priorities?

As the organization matured and evolved, the member companies began to consider how they could have a greater impact on seafood sustainability beyond the project funding. They recently spent time identifying the following key strategic areas of focus:

• Supporting the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership’s (SFP) Target 75 initiative – A sector-based approach to sustainability working through SFP’s supply chain roundtables and prioritizing improvement efforts in seafood sectors that are the most relevant to Sea Pact members
• Domestic responsible aquaculture advocacy and education – Supporting growth of responsible aquaculture in the United States and Canada and educating stakeholders on the benefits of responsibly produced aquaculture
• Developing an aligned environmentally sustainable, socially responsible and economically viable joint Sea Pact seafood sourcing commitment

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Sea Pact has already incorporated these strategic priorities into its project funding criteria and process, and now we are developing work plans for each strategy. These work plans will include specific actions for the organization and its members to take, as well as indicators and goal posts to measure impact and success.

It seems to me that in the early days of the group it handed out a good number of grants, but my sense is that the number of grants handed out has steadily declined. Is this correct?

I disagree. Since its inception, the organization has funded on average between 3-5 projects per year through 2021. What has changed is the grant funding process.

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A few years back, Sea Pact shifted away from a once-per-year request for proposals (and annual funding cycle) to the current approach where applicants can now submit letters of interest (and project funding is dispersed) on an open basis throughout the course of the year.

As a result, I think, and I could be wrong, there has not been as much public communications and media around the funded projects, but they are all listed on the Sea Pact website.

Project funding is a core initiative of the organization and I don’t expect that to change, although we may review and adjust the process again.

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Also, there is a big opportunity for Sea Pact to explore ways to engage and support these funded efforts once their funding cycle is completed – whether it be by elevating awareness of the effort or applying the lessons learned to other sustainability initiatives.

Are you planning on recruiting more companies to the effort? Why should they join?

That is a discussion that needs to happen with the existing members once I am formally in the role, but for now I can say there is interest from Sea Pact to collaborate with industry and other stakeholders to replicate the model in other markets outside of the United States and Canada.

What has been the group's biggest success since its inception?

The first being the impact the organization had, and I’d point to the grant process – all of the projects funded and the money raised to support those efforts year after year.

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The second success is the continued growth and evolution of the organization itself, which has been driven by the members.

From the very earliest days, the members have been committed to the success and formalization of the organization – through the establishment a governance structure, hiring of staff, adding new members, and forging collaborations with other efforts.

Now the organization is assessing how it can drive transformational change in seafood sustainability through collective action beyond its grant funding, which it remains committed to.