London, England – Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) announced today the departure of Blake Lee-Harwood, chief programs officer, recognizing his more than ten years of service and contributions to the organisation. Lee-Harwood is setting up a new international consultancy specialising in policy, communications, and advocacy for sustainable seafood, with a focus on environment and climate change.
“We are grateful to Blake for his substantial contributions to SFP over the past decade,” said Jean-Louis Meuric, chair of the SFP Board of Directors. “He invented the Ocean Disclosure Project and built close relationships with many key seafood sectors. He has the ability to effectively connect with many different partners to improve the global sustainability of marine resources. We will miss his energy and creativity, and wish him well with his new projects.”
During his tenure at SFP, Lee-Harwood served in a variety of senior management positions. In recent years, he pioneered a new approach to mitigating the impacts of the seafood industry
on marine biodiversity through audits to identify the risks of bycatch in seafood supply chains, as well as developing new work streams around small-scale fisher registration.
“It has been a great ten years with SFP, but the time has come to make way for new talent within the organisation,” said Lee-Harwood. “I have several new projects to pursue and will benefit greatly from my time at SFP. I have been blessed at SFP with wonderful colleagues and a constant stream of interesting challenges. I will miss it very much.”
At SFP, Lee-Harwood created many of the tools and systems underlying sustainable seafood today. He pioneered the FIP Directory, the first global database of fishery improvement projects; devised the Ocean Disclosure Project (ODP); and chaired the Aquaculture Stewardship Council working group in developing a new standard for aquaculture feed.
Prior to SFP, Lee-Harwood was campaign director for Greenpeace UK and served in various roles in industry and government.
