Future of Fish

Who We Are | Swimming Upstream

  • Sean & Michael Dimin : Brooklyn, NY

    Founders of Sea to Table, a business that overnights fresh fish caught by small-scale sustainable fishermen around the world to top restaurants

  • Jerry Knecht : Bali, Indonesia

    Founder and president of North Atlantic, Inc., a primary processor, importer, and distributor of fresh and frozen seafood, and sustainability pioneer

  • Thomas Kraft : Seattle, Washington

    Founder of Norpac Fisheries Export, a successful processing and distribution business dedicated to accountability, responsibility, traceability & sustainability

  • Village Fishmonger : New York, NY

    Founders of Village Fishmonger are in the process of launching a seafood retail business selling locally sourced sustainable seafood a la carte or by seasonal subscription.

  • Dune Lankard : Cordova, Alaska

    Native Athabaskan Eyak fisherman from the Alaskan Copper River Delta and founder of Copper River Wild Salmon

  • Barton Seaver : Washington, DC

    Chef, speaker, National Geographic Fellow, and author of the sustainable seafood cookbook For Cod and Country

  • Richard Boot : Fort Collins, Colorado

    Founder and president of FishChoice Inc., an online matching service for buyers and suppliers of sustainable fish

  • Shannon McDiarmid : San Francisco, CA

    President and Director of Safety & Sustainability at Royal Hawaiian Seafood, a premiere Bay Area seafood distributor focused on high-caliber and responsibly produced fresh and live seafood.

  • Jared Auerbach : Boston, MA

    Owner and CEO of Red’s Best, an innovative technology and logistics platform that builds efficiency and traceability in order to support small fishing fleets and ensure maximum freshness.

  • Ed Backus : Portland, Oregon

    Vice president of community ecosystem services at Ecotrust, and founder of the $6 million North Pacific Fisheries Trust

  • Steve Vilnit : Annapolis, MD

    Director of Fisheries Marketing at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, a state-run program that helps watermen increase the value of their harvest through grassroots marketing efforts.

  • Kristofor Lofgren : Portland, Oregon

    Ecopreneur and founder of the nation’s first MSC certified sustainable sushi restaurant, Bamboo Sushi

  • Miguel Jorge : Washington, DC

    Director of the National Geographic Society’s Ocean Initiative working with an array of partners to restore ocean health and productivity

  • Robert Terry : Palo Alto, CA / Newport, OR

    Founder and CTO of Smart Catch LLC, a startup that‘s developing cost-effective, innovative trawl-net fishing gear that will help fishermen increase efficiency and reduce by-catch.

Our Work

Future of Fish (FoF) is a nonprofit accelerator for entrepreneurs launching market-based initiatives that drive sustainability, efficiency, and traceability in the seafood supply chain. We focus specifically on industry pioneers whose planned initiatives are directly aligned with our mission and whose ideas are considered too nascent to secure traditional financing without the additional strategic and operational support we provide.

Amplification Through Cohorts
Our approach to system change is to help develop and support leaders working to address multiple breakdowns in the system. We cluster our entrepreneurs and partners into cohorts and lead them through a process of not only growing their own ideas, but also amplifying the success of others in the group. By choosing players that represent all levels in the seafood supply chain, we are able to foster greater change than any one individual or organization could accomplish alone.

Our first cohort convened in July 2010 and we are working with these partners to demonstrate how changes in the supply chain can drive true sustainability. If you’re interested in being part of our next cohort or want to learn more about our process, check out How to Play.

Our Services
Most innovation in the seafood industry requires development and nurturing before being ready for conventional investment. Future of Fish provides that by offering a variety of customized business services to companies whose solutions hold promise for tackling some of the industry’s most serious issues. We collaborate with our entrepreneurs and partners to produce scalable and investable businesses or partnerships that generate significant financial and environmental returns. Learn more about FoF Services.