Dear friends and colleagues,

Despite these challenging times, Ocean Outcomes (O2) is celebrating a special milestone: six years since we launched as an independent organization dedicated to improving sustainability of fisheries globally.

Having just completed a strategy review, we want to share some reflections on our accomplishments, our refreshed focus and exciting news about O2 leadership moving forward.

Thanks to your support and belief, we have enjoyed great success these past six years.

Across Japan, we launched the first Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) and helped seed a domestic sustainable seafood movement. In China, we brought together international industry and large-scale domestic fisheries to launch projects addressing sustainability in Chinese domestic fleets for the first time. In Russia, we supported anti-poaching initiatives and brought over half of wild salmon by volume into more sustainable status.

More recently, on the high seas – and closer to shore – we have been working with one of the world’s largest tuna companies to improve sustainability, monitoring and traceability, as well as ensure sound, science-based management strategies for Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean tuna fisheries. We have supported growth of the sustainable seafood movement in Latin America, where we have helped develop new approaches to fisheries improvement by adding dimensions of socioeconomic well-being.

And we have delivered valuable services through nearly a hundred projects to dozens of like-minded organizations, alliances and seafood companies, helping achieve their sustainability goals through strategic analysis, training, workshops, research and consultation.

Together, we have accomplished more than we thought possible.

A significant element of O2’s success has resulted from driving important seafood supply chain investments in fisheries improvement. We have also helped develop important game-changing initiatives like triple impact FIPs, which we believe will be instrumental in the future for ensuring durable and integrated environmental, social and financial sustainability for fisheries and fishing communities.

Looking ahead, O2 will be increasing its focus on its key strengths – high quality and impactful demonstration of the best ideas in the fishery improvement space. This means providing support and expertise to partners globally to scale improvement results, and working to increase the efficiency and value of supply chain investments in sustainability.

We have identified four focal arenas for O2’s work that build on our strong foundation and best leverage our capacity and strengths.

These include leading and supporting the sustainable seafood and fisheries improvement movements and aligned stakeholders in:

• tuna and distant water fisheries;
  
• China and the greater Northeast Asia region;
  
• small scale fisheries and triple impact approaches to improvement; and,
  
• technical fisheries science and socioeconomic services.
  

O2 also has renewed its commitment to our organizational values of integrity, transparency, trust, equity and inclusion, empowerment and accountability, excellence and innovation, and teamwork.

Leadership is core to O2’s success moving forward, requiring an individual who embodies these values and has proven experience across all our arenas of work.

So, with great enthusiasm we announce that the Board of Directors has selected Rich Lincoln to lead Ocean Outcomes as President and CEO.

Rich – O2’s founding Executive Director – has an extensive, diverse background in sustainable fisheries, is a respected and proven leader internationally and has been instrumental in our successes as an organization thus far.

He is uniquely positioned to lead Ocean Outcomes as we work to execute our new strategy and build Ocean Outcomes in 2021 and beyond. We are extremely pleased with the dedication, focus and energy that Rich brings to this role.

Our organization has undergone extraordinary change and evolution these past six years. While change is constant, our commitment to a future with healthy aquatic ecosystems, a plentiful and profitable wild seafood supply, and thriving fishing communities has remained unwavering.

We are proud of what we have accomplished as a young organization, and are looking forward to our continued growth and next phases of work.

Sincerely,

Valerie Craig, Board Chair, Ocean Outcomes
Interim Chief Science & Innovation Officer
National Geographic Society