The Monterey Bay Aquarium, closed for seven months due to Covid-19, was forced to cut more than one-third of its staff, which included some layoffs from Seafood Watch—a science-based conservation program that develops sustainable seafood recommendations.
Lusamerica Foods in Morgan Hill, a major seafood wholesaler and distributor along the U.S. West Coast, snatched up Seafood Watch’s ex-Outreach Manager, Peter Adame, to join the crew as the new Communications & Sustainability Manager.
“Our team has been talking about how we need someone to help build our brand and spearhead our sustainability initiatives for quite a while,” said Lusamerica’s CEO Fernando Frederico. “We have big plans to expand our local, sustainable seafood offerings from California’s central coast and Peter’s a great fit to help us amplify this new initiative.”
Adame said he’s disappointed to lose his job at the aquarium, but is excited about the impact he can make in his new role with Lusamerica.
“I’m really going to miss working at such an amazing organization like Seafood Watch,” he said, “but now I can drive more direct change in the seafood industry. Lusamerica distributes over 40 million pounds of seafood a year. While some of the seafood is already coming from sustainable sources, I’m excited to inspire customers to continue expanding their portfolio of sustainable seafood options to help our ocean.”
“As a company, we have launched several sustainability initiatives over the years, like redesigning our packaging to replace the heavily waxed cardboard boxes that are often not recyclable,” Frederico said. “We know Peter can help us with future sustainability initiatives and sharing these stories publicly as our new Communications & Sustainability Manager.”
