Dear friend,

While Spring is often thought of as a time of revitalization, we’re ahead of the game here at NAMA. This month we’ve brought on several new team members, who will introduce themselves over the next few months. Plus, we’re working on our new Strategic Plan, looking forward to building a fresh new website, and there might even be a new logo coming soon (shh!). AND after being apart throughout COVID, the NAMA team is finally coming together in person, and some of us are meeting for the first time! We’ll be enjoying the chilly air of the Adirondacks for a few days while focusing on Rebooting the Revolocean.

Keep Swimming,

Jen Halstead
Program Assistant
Last week Senators from MI, WA, HI, and FL re-introduced the AQUAA Act which aims to open the floodgates to industrial-scale aquaculture in the US. See this poignant article published in Fortune and written by our network collaborators Marianne Cufone and Dana Honn. And please follow our network’s advocacy and organizing arm called Don't Cage our Ocean Coalition and get involved. Much more on this coming soon!
Last week NAMA’s Food Justice Organizer, Jon Russell, spoke at the Urgenci General Assembly as part of a broader conversation about food sovereignty. Urgenci is an international network hub building support and solidarity for alternative food system models that center around the folks who grow, catch, harvest, and raise our food. 

Jon also spoke at the 8th International CSA Symposium alongside many Urgenci Members to speak about the work that CSAs and CSFs can do to change our world food systems. He shared about the visions of a new food system we hope to have, how we are working on that vision through the Local Catch Network, and how the fight for Racial Justice needs to be interwoven into every aspect of our work. 

There were 5 days of incredible speakers from around the globe doing the work to achieve food sovereignty in their communities. The symposium concluded on the 6th day with a watching of their film Minga, Voices of Resistance, a film showing voices of resistance all throughout Latin America. In the program of the symposium, you can find links to recordings of all the speeches. If you have the time, check out many of the amazing voices that were part of this symposium!
Please check out this new report, hot off the press, from our friends at the Trans National Institute and Pleine Mer. In the report we see patterns and systems from across the pond that are mimicking and are directly tied to what we’re seeing here. This is why supporting efforts such as the Local Catch Network and sister networks in Europe and elsewhere is so critical.
We are excited to share an amazing book from a fisher-author within our network, Amanda Swinimer. Amanda’s virtual book launch party for The Science and Spirit of Seaweed is Saturday November 13th from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Amanda will be in conversation with friend Brooke Fader, convivium leader of Slow Food VI and founding member of Slow Fish Canada. Come hang out! RSVP: bit.ly/amandaswinimer
Our friends at New England Fishmongers celebrated the grand opening of their fish market on October 21! Not only are they featuring their own daily catch, they’ve partnered with several local fish harvesters in the area to bring different species to their customers.
They’re even partnered with Lance Nacio of Anna Marie Shrimp in Louisiana to bring responsibly harvested, directly sourced shrimp to Maine. Lance even flew up to celebrate the grand opening and made gumbo! It’s connections such as these, made throughout our networks, that embody and exemplify our vision for a just, regional food system.
NAMA is a fishermen-led organization building a broad movement toward healthy fisheries, and fishing communities.

We build deep, and trusting relationships with community based fisherman, crew, fishworkers, and allies to create effective policy, and market strategies.

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