Saving Seafood

Julie Kuchepatov shares SAGE advice on how to approach gender equality issues in seafood

January 6, 2021 — SAGE, a nonprofit launched on 13 October, 2020, by Julie Kuchepatov, is working to raise awareness around – and ultimately improve – gender equality in the seafood industry. Kuchepatov, the former director of seafood at Fair Trade USA and a founding member of Ocean Outcomes, hopes to help establish a more inclusive seafood industry through SAGE. SeafoodSource interviewed Kuchepatov about how the seafood industry should approach 2021 with gender equality issues in mind.

SeafoodSource: Having worked at Fair Trade and with various seafood companies across sectors and geographies over the years, you are familiar with the many challenges the industry faces. Why should the industry be thinking about gender equality?

Kuchepatov: Building gender equality and women’s empowerment in the seafood industry is critical. The seafood sector, as with most sectors, has experienced an unprecedented level of disruption due to the global pandemic and decisions are being made in real time about the industry’s future. To build back better, we must develop equitable solutions that include diverse voices to overcome the challenges created by COVID-19.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New SAGE initiative launched to create a more gender inclusive seafood industry

October 13, 2020 — Addressing systemic barriers to gender equality in the seafood industry is one of the prime directives of SAGE, a new nonprofit launched on 13 October courtesy of its founder, Julie Kuchepatov.

Kuchepatov, the former director of seafood at Fair Trade USA and a founding member of Ocean Outcomes, formed SAGE to build a more inclusive seafood industry that will empower and elevate women, who make up 50 percent of the sector’s workforce, yet remain underrepresented in key management and decision-making roles.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ASC-certified fish farms testing out Fair Trade standards

October 17, 2018 — Select fish farms certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) will soon be piloting Fair Trade USA’s requirements, thanks to a recent memorandum of understanding signed by the certification bodies.

The collaboration, announced 9 October, will see Fair Trade USA’s model of “responsible business and conscious consumption” implemented by certain ASC-certified fish farms. The pilot – being carried out in the framework of ASC’s new Improver Program – will allow the certifiers to determine if Fair Trade’s program, which enables sustainable livelihoods for fishermen around the world while empowering them to improve their communities via the Community Development Fund, can act as a ladder toward ASC certification.

“The Capture Fisheries Standard for wild fisheries has been the cornerstone of the Fair Trade seafood program since its inception in 2014, and now thousands of fishermen and workers are reaping its benefits,” said Julie Kuchepatov, seafood director at Fair Trade USA. “We look forward to working with ASC to bring the benefits of Fair Trade to fish farmers and workers and increase the environmental and social impact of our respective programs.”

“We are excited to bring the expertise of both organizations together in service of our shared goal to further improve the social and environmental performance of the aquaculture industry,” added Roy van Daatselaar, producer support manager at ASC.

ASC’s Improver Program, which was launched at the beginning of October, is aimed at helping seafood farmers not yet ready to achieve certification with improving their practices and mitigating their social and environmental impacts. The program has already seen ASC team up with the Vietnamese Directorate of Fisheries (D-Fish) and WWF Vietnam to provide guidance documents geared at helping VietGAP-certified farmers to achieve ASC certification. This new arrangement with Fair Trade USA signals the program’s ongoing expansion and will benefit producers with a more comprehensive approach to certification, according to Daatselaar.

Read the full story at Seafood Source