By Antonio Garza de Yta, Ph.D
In all the years I’ve been writing this column, I had never received as much feedback as I did on the last edition. Truly, “influencers” “excelsheeters” are something aquaculture experts deal with every day. However, the comment that caught my attention most was from my good friend and financial expert Ali Abdulhussain, a young professional of world-class quality, with outstanding analytical skills, and with whom I’ve had the great opportunity to work closely in Oman. His view is that despite all the things we might complain about, “influencers” and “excelsheeters” serve the function of interest the uninterested. How true that is!
Aquaculture professionals have not been able to build a proper communication agenda, and we’ve failed to convey the importance of our activity. Even though FAO and WHO have highlighted its importance, we have not been able to reach the broader population and, even less so, those who make budget decisions in government or investment decisions in private capital funds. If we were to place something on the sector’s agenda today, I think Ali’s comment is the most accurate of all: We need to interest the uninterested.
A few years ago, I was in Italy having dinner with a colleague who asked the waiter whether the bass being offered was wild-caught or farmed. Upon hearing that it was wild-caught, my colleague immediately asked if he had anything better to offer us.
I’ll never forget the look on the waiter’s face, but before he could say anything, my companion told him that for safety, he only ate farmed products, because he knew where they came from and what they had been fed, thanks to the sustainability and traceability standards demanded of the industry; whereas the wild-caught product could have been in any type of water and fed on anything.
We took the opportunity to explain to him that it’s false that aquaculture uses hormones in feed and that today it is an increasingly safe industry, without which we couldn’t feed the growing population. I am convinced that after that conversation, our new friend saw aquaculture differently.
I don’t mean to say that the way my colleague interacted in that restaurant is ideal — personally, I don’t think we should speak negatively about responsibly practiced fishing, as it provides jobs for millions of families and high-quality food for society at large — but what I do want to share is that we need to deliver a disruptive message.
We can’t stay stuck in the same old narrative; we have to learn from those “influencers” and tell stories that expand our audience, rather than always speaking among ourselves. We have to seek novel ideas and communicate them not in hours but in capsules of less than a minute. We cannot expect the world to adapt to us — it is we who must adapt to the world.
Today we must communicate our story in a way that encourages governments to allocate budgets to aquaculture so that it can develop where it still hasn’t. We must present the sector in a way that attracts investors, not as a recipe for becoming billionaires in a few years, but as what it truly is: a reliable long-term activity. We have the goose that lays golden eggs, and we haven’t figured out how to sell it.
Aquaculture is the most sustainable way to produce animal protein on the planet — the one that will allow millions of human beings to eat well and fully develop their intellectual capacity, living long and healthy lives. Plus, we have a delicious product! So, let’s learn from those who have been able to communicate their ideas, and in a professional, serious — but disruptive — manner, go after that new audience and take on this great challenge: to interest the uninterested.
* Antonio Garza de Yta is COO of Blue Aqua International-Gulf, Vice President of the International Center for Strategic Studies in Aquaculture (CIDEEA), President of Aquaculture Without Frontiers (AwF), Past President of the World Aquaculture Society (WAS), Former Secretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Tamaulipas, Mexico, and Creator of the Certification for Aquaculture Professionals (CAP) Program with Auburn University
