August 2023 - Director's Corner

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been one year since I took over as the Director of the Trust!

As I look back on what unfolded over the last year, I’m both exhilarated and humbled by the learning journey. I am learning what it takes to run an organization smoothly AND achieve the intended impact. It’s definitely a work in progress, but I’m appreciative that in this year of transition we kept ‘the ship’ moving ahead. 

We moved forward by welcoming two new faces to the Board of Directors, Dr. John Field, one of the leading rockfish biologists on the US west coast and an avid community seafood supporter, and Chaps Poduri, a local finance professional and Pacific Grove City council member. 

We hired our first full-time Operations Manager, Marilou Inzunza, and we initiated a Strategic Plan update that will be complete by the end of this year. We received a new grant from UNFI Foundation, which infused our Community Seafood Program with funds to purchase more seafood on behalf of local food banks. And most recently, we added a new food relief partner, Second Harvest Food Bank. 

We helped the public better understand the dungeness crab fishery challenges with articles, and we ensured fishermen were kept up to date with monthly bulletins. We facilitated an annual fishermen’s roundtable meeting with US Congressman Jimmy Panetta to ensure he had first hand information about the challenges facing fishermen in this district. We participated in the lead up to the California salmon disaster relief request with Congressman Huffman and Panetta, as well as others ensuring fishermen from our region were on that call. We advocated for local relief to affected salmon fishermen via slip fee deferments, and participated in the Sacramento Day of Action for Salmon organized by the Golden State Salmon Association. 

As I celebrate one year with the Trust, I continue to be so very grateful for the work that we do together to get more local seafood on dinner tables here in our community. If you are reading this and you want to connect about your perspectives on what we can be doing better, please reach out.

Contact us at info@mbfishtrust.org