March 2026

Christi Electris attended the First Annual Blue Foods Summit,  hosted by Food Tank on March 15th at the WBUR CitySpace in Boston. With a focus on building a sustainable blue foods system, the summit was held as a side event to the Seafood Expo North America, the largest gathering of seafood professionals on the continent. The summit brought together stakeholders from across the seafood supply chain: individual and multinational seafood producers, seafood traceability technology companies, retailers, chefs, plus nonprofits advocating for marine ecosystems, fishermen, and small-scale aquaculture.   

Record high sea temperatures, pollution, and habitat loss put blue food systems under extreme pressure. This jeopardizes communities that rely on them, particularly small-scale fisheries, which account for 40% of the global catch and 90% of the industry’s workforce (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2024). Notably, women make up nearly half of those employed across aquatic value chains. 

Of seven rapid-fire talks and panels, one stood out as the most connected to the social and ecological impact of blue foods, which held many similarities to the terrestrial-based food producers in Croatan Institute’s network. Imani Black (Founder, Minorities in Aquaculture) delivered a powerful storytelling session on her journey to starting an oyster farm and nonprofit. Afterwards, she joined a panel on “Diversifying Blue Foods” moderated by Dani Nierenberg (President, Food Tank).  

Speakers highlighted the need for workforce development to support local fisheries, oyster farming, and small-scale aquaculture. Alicia Gaiero of Nauti Sisters Sea Farm discussed the lack of sustainable income opportunities for the many people interested in getting involved in small scale oyster farming, which has led them to develop additional income streams through ecotourism of their micro-scale production.  Citali Gomez Lepe, a third-generation trout farmer in the mountains in Mexico, discussed how her family connected to chefs in the slow food movement to buy the trout they were raising. Citali found that people liked connecting to where their fish came from. Niaz Dorry of the North American Marine Alliance emphasized the corporatization and privatization underway of our ocean resources, highlighting that Indigenous people were the first to experience exclusion from resources. Niaz pointed out booming kelp farming initiatives as the new land grab, as land under the ocean is still land. She encouraged supporting “community supported fisheries” and wild capture fisheries, like Indigenous salmon fisheries that have environmental, social and health benefits.  

A key take-away in blue foods, as in all foods: Diversity is not just about the people who grow and catch our food, but also about what we eat. We need to value the fruits of the ocean, rather than only creating demand for specific species.  If we want diversity to stick around, the industry needs to support small-scale aquaculture across the value chain.  

Christi says, “I’m grateful for Food Tank for bringing this important conversation to Boston, and I look forward to attending future summits as Croatan Institute explores the blue foods component of building resilient ecosystems and communities through food systems investment.”