Acme backs seafood NGOs fighting climate change, promoting diversity in sector

Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.-based Acme Smoked Fish awarded a total of USD 120,000 (EUR 111,912) to three separate organizations for their contribution to lowering climate footprints and increasing diversity in the seafood sector. 

The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, Luke’s Seafood’s Lift All Boats program, and Aroostook Band of the Mi’kmaq Nation each received USD 40,000 (EUR 37,297) via Acme’s Seafood Industry Climate Award (SICA). The award, launched in 2022 in collaboration with TD Bank, is part of the company’s Eric Caslow Innovation Fund.

The awardees were celebrated at an event during Seafood Expo North America (SENA) – which ran from 12 to 14 March in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

The SICA aims to identify innovation efforts to lower carbon footprints across the seafood industry, and increase women and minority group leadership in the sector. Acme received 12 applications for the award and selected three organizations via a panel of judges. Awardees were given a grant, access to the Acme leadership team, and recognition at the Acme event at SENA. 

Acme Smoked Fish’s Culture and Sustainability Officer Rob Snyder said addressing climate change and increasing diversity across the industry has become pivotal for the organization and its values.

“When we thought this through, we were trying to figure out ‘where can we have the most impact?’” Snyder said. “The seafood industry has a lot of work to do to bring underrepresented groups into the industry, and make sure they have a pathway into the future of our work. This award was really structured as a way to bring these two issues together, and provide a platform for people who can demonstrate what the future could look like.”

Sitka, Alaska, U.S.A.-based Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) is a commercial fishermen organization that says it is committed to the sustainability of local fisheries and communities in Alaska. ALFA will be using the funds to purchase hybridization and decarbonization equipment, working to pilot new hybrid diesel and electric, and enhancing tracking data, ALFA Executive Director Linda Behnken said. ALFA works with more than 300 fishers throughout Alaska, the organization said.

“The Acme award has been a huge contribution to a project we started to address the impacts of climate change on our fisheries, looking at how our fishermen reduce their carbon footprint,”  Behnken said at Acme’s event at SENA.

Behnken said ALFA has worked with fishermen to understand their fuel use and identify ways to reduce it – which both reduces carbon emissions and saves fishermen money. Now, ALFA is planning to pilot new propulsion types.

“We got through that section and wanted to look at what we could do next to move to cleaner fuels in our fleet, and with Acme’s support we will be outfitting and be launching the first hybrid boat from our area this fall,” Behnken said. “The Acme award has been a huge part of helping us move this project forward.”

The Lift All Boats Initiative, led by Luke’s Lobster Chief Innovation Officer Ben Conniff, introduces BIPOC students in the U.S. state of Maine, primarily immigrants, to careers in commercial fishing. The program is in its second year, and Conniff said it is paving the way for students to becoming commercial fishers while educating them about the carbon footprint from the industry and reducing emissions over time. 

The award funds will be allocated toward expanding the program and replicating the model. Saco, Maine, U.S.A.-based Lift All Boats will fund instructors to join the team in the water to teach the students about piloting the boats, baiting, setting traps, and selling lobster under sustainable guidelines. 

“Almost all existing lobstermen are white men. We want to create a pathway to racial equity in our fishery. We need to work within this system to find ways for folks who aren’t descendants of current fishermen to gain access, so that’s what Lift All Boats intended to do,” Conniff said. “We work with local school systems in the Portland area through guidance counselors, through Black student unions, to find BIPOC in our community who would be interested in lobstering careers but are simply unaware that career path is available to them.”

The Aroostook Band of the Mi’kmaq Nation based in Presque Isle, Maine, will use its award to help the tribe advance adoption of solar energy while developing recirculating aquaculture system technologies (RAS). The Micmac Farms and Fish Hatchery is run by the Mi’kmaq Nation and annually provides 12,000 pounds of Maine-strain Eastern brook trout to stock waterways used for subsistence fishing by the local Indigeneous community. 

“As you might guess, high-quality protein is sometimes limited in northern Maine. This is really an important source of protein,” Ocean Outcomes President and CEO Rich Lincoln said.  

The funding will help the Mi’kmaq tribe couple solar power with its existing RAS system, allowing it to be a more environmentally friendly practice and essentially operate entirely on solar power. The project will also buffer food-system disruptions caused by climate change and other events, according to Lincoln.

“The Acme award is allowing the Mi’kmaqs to basically run their whole operation on solar power,” Lincoln said. “Not only is it contributing to mitigating the impacts of climate change and use of carbon, but it’s also instrumental for the tribe to be self-sustaining from an economic standpoint.”

Photo courtesy of Bhavana Scalia-Bruce/SeafoodSource