Our Unique Role:
The Birds, The Bees, The Worms, The Beavers
Our team plays four critical roles in the broader ecosystem or “fisheries forest” within which we work. In different and overlapping ways, these four roles encompass what we think of as our “Block, Build, Be” approach to social justice and movement work.
The Birds
Like birds, we bring a 30,000 foot view to our movement and networks. This allows us to be forward thinkers and visualize opportunities, synergies, and potential that some of our allies and networks may not see — yet. We identify gaps where our unique approach can build power for the fisher people and fishing communities who lead our work. Conversations about fisheries management and ecologically responsible seafood usually take place in a proverbial “fish tank,” using jargon and frameworks designed for, but not created by, fisherfolk. Rather than being led by fisher people, decisions are made by corporate, governmental, and institutional entities that benefit from the status quo. Our soaring vantage point helps us see and work outside the tank to ensure conversations center the expertise, wisdom, and solutions of our networks.
The Bees
Just as bees keep things pollinated, blossoming, and growing, so do we. We connect the dots and weave alignment between would-be, could-be, and should-be allies, especially those who have been pitted against each other by the powers that be. Buzzing around and within social justice movements enables us to spread our work and advance our narrative, which is how we meet key allies and networks who either don’t have a position on fisheries (yet!) or have one that doesn’t align with their other explicit values. Whether through fisheries policy opportunities, letter sign-ons, or organizing across sectors, we leverage our networks to build reciprocal power and bridge gaps that were deliberately created to keep social justice and liberation movements small and divided, rather than collective. When diverse grassroots communities and non-profit organizations step forth as unlikely or unexpected fisher allies, it shocks the status-quo power brokers that benefit from the marginalization of fishing communities. Staying connected with other liberation movements, we move our fishing networks towards understanding how the struggles and freedoms of all oppressed peoples are all tied together.
The Worms
Worms play a crucial role in fortifying soil, helping healthy plants take root, and facilitating rich foundations. We do this for our networks by embodying a set of core values that we infuse into every aspect of our work and the spaces we cultivate. Our core values guide every collaboration and partnership, and as we grow and learn, they anchor us to ensure we’re always in authentic alignment. We also aim our energies towards the structural forces at the root of what we’re trying to block or build. This includes challenging harmful ideologies, like white supremacy, patriarchy, and global capitalism, as well as nurturing liberatory ones like food sovereignty, re-Indigenization, and grassroots power building. We have helped our allies recognize the need to address these root forces and coalesce around shared values.
The Beavers
As ecosystem engineers, beavers restore degraded ecosystems to healthier states, while increasing biodiversity of all types in the spaces where they live. They build dams that block and alter the course of rushing water, and the wood they stack provides food and shelter for other ecosystem inhabitants. Like beavers, NAMA works to block the course of powerful entities, such as those pushing for the privatization of the ocean commons and corporate domination in fisheries. In doing so, we aim to create space for other models of fishing and stewardship to flourish, based on values like food sovereignty, community-led and ecosystem-based management, and reciprocal, caretaking relationships with our shared lands and waters.
Our Commitment to Racial Equity
We are a North American organization who has made an explicit commitment to ensuring equity across our food system and society as a whole. We owe our journey toward equity to our partners at Food Solutions New England who for nearly a decade has put us and many of our regional allies through the appropriate paces required to help us better understand the importance of such a commitment.
Today, we are engaged in national and global movement building and campaigns that center racial equity in support of sea food providers who lead our work. They range from rural to urban, and although primarily white, also include Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and immigrants from around the world.
Our commitment doesn’t stop at racial equity. Food providing businesses are perceived as mostly male-dominated operations, however, women, trans people, nonbinary people, lesbian, gay, queer, and bisexual people fish. We cannot bring in the voices of the marginalized on the water and land without considering gender. That’s why we are stretching ourselves to live into this commitment as the next phase of living up to our broader commitment to equity across our food system.
Our Theory of Change
Our Strategic Plan
Our Overarching Goals
Expand our geographical reach to shift international trade and public policy.
Build a powerful North American movement and power base to be leveraged toward international policy changes and market transformation.
Change public policies toward sustainability.
Halt federal policies that bolster industrial fisheries such as the AQUAA Act and Catch Shares and generate federal policies that uplift community-based fisheries and protect the ocean commons.
Shift seafood value chain policies toward community-based and equitable models.
Expand and fortify seafood procurement policies so that millions of dollars of purchasing power shift away from globalized and industrial fisheries.
Ensure organizational effectiveness.
NAMA is a well-governed, managed, funded, and developed organization operating in alignment with our commitment to racial justice.
Our Strategic Filters
- limit what we can do
- legitimize policies and strategies we don't agree with, and,
- shut the door on our ability to organize with family fishermen.
Our Strategies
Ensuring Food Justice A just seafood system guarantees fair wages and working conditions, equitable access to culturally appropriate seafood, and healthy ocean ecosystems.
Fighting for Racial Justice We’re leading the charge as the only ocean conservation organization tackling racial inequity in the fishing industry and seafood chain.
Supporting a Movement Our movement represents a network of 500,000+ fishing families, food justice champions, scientists, economists, and many more.
Resisting Corporate Domination Corporations have become feudal sea lords, evicting local fishermen and seizing control of ocean resources and the seafood supply chain.