SPEAKERS
Lourdes Gant, Guy Dean
Lourdes Gant 00:05
As a business owner of an aquaculture company, how can you take the first step to be profitable and sustainable at the same time? That’s what we’re going to be talking about in this episode. Hello, and welcome to the business of agriculture podcast. This is the podcast for the Sustainable Business movement in the Aquafarming and ocean ranching industries. This podcast aims to amplify the voices of entrepreneurs addressing the United Nations global goals, aka Sustainable Development Goals. Number 14.
To conserve and sustainably use the oceans and the seas, listening to fellow business aquaculturists in their journey in this new model of food production, of making their business sustainable, and help the ecology of the ocean, while also making a profit all at the same time. Get inspired to learn how even small to medium businesses can make an impact, save the seas, leave a legacy and have a better quality of life. One of our goals is to take away a nugget of wisdom that will help your business move from the industrial revolution to business 5.0.
Our vision is that a collaboration in the aquaculture industry I’m Lourdes Gant, your host. As an agriculture business owner, how do you tackle the balance between being able to run a sustainable business and being profitable at the same time as what we’re going to be talking about in this episode. We’re on episode 15 for Season One, and I hope that you enjoy this episode.
If you listened to our last episode, I interviewed Jennifer Woodland who is the chairperson of the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance and CEO of NCN Seafoods. Welcome to Episode 15 of the Business of Aquaculture podcast. In this podcast, I’m delighted to have Guy Dean who is the President and General Manager of Organic Ocean Seafood Inc. Welcome to the show, Dean.
Guy Dean 02:06
Great, thank you Lourdes. Thanks for having me.
Lourdes Gant 02:09
Guy has been involved in the seafood industry for over 30 years from farmer, harvester, fisher, processor and distributor. He’s passionate about supporting and promoting the consumption of sustainable seafood and particularly the long term viability of the seafood industry. He sits on the board of a number of industry-led foundations within North America.
He readily volunteers his expertise regarding the marketing of sustainable seafood and closed container aquaculture in an effort to move the industry forward. Welcome again, Guy. And I called in a while ago because both your name sounded like.
Guy Dean 02:45
No, the first name are both mine. So, I get that a lot. Don’t worry about it.
Lourdes Gant 02:50
Sounds good. It’s like my last name isn’t Gant and a lot of people call it Grant. So I know.
Guy Dean 02:57
Exactly.
Lourdes Gant 02:58
So well. Let’s dive into this show. So tell us how did you get into the seafood and agriculture industry?
Guy Dean 03:04
Yeah, well, it’s primarily the seafood industry, because we sell both wild and responsible aquaculture. But I actually have a degree in Marine Zoology. And after I graduated, I went and started working on the open net-pen farm. And this was a long time ago before the big conglomerates came in and started buying all the lights and the companies.
And I did that. And then I went to Japan and lived in Japan as a commercial diver in Japan for seven years. When it was time to come back. I wanted to continue to use my knowledge about the ocean and use my knowledge about Japanese. And that got me into seafood sales. And I worked for a trading company when I first got back and I’ve never been able to get out of the industry since so.
Lourdes Gant 03:58
I know how you feel I’ve been in this industry for really only 13 years. And it’s like it’s such a diverse and very interesting, nothing is the same every day.
Guy Dean 04:09
Yeah.
Lourdes Gant 04:10
Very dynamic. Thank you for sharing. You know, it’s interesting that you lived in Japan because as we know, Japan has been really robust in terms of what they’re doing in the industry, but maybe from their from being marine zoology from it being in Japan and working in a trading company. What have you seen has been the pros and cons in terms of the aquaculture industry?
Guy Dean 04:34
Obviously, seafood, in general, is the healthiest protein on the planet. I mean, it has the ability to solve so many issues and challenges that we experienced from obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and so bringing a healthy protein to this world is the biggest pro that there is.
I mean, I think the bigger challenge is the cons about aquaculture, in general, is people still interpret farm as a four-letter word, it has a bad association with it. But just like any other industry, whether it’s wild capture fisheries as well, there are some responsible aquaculture programmes out there.
Lourdes Gant 05:17
I really like that you guys really spun off on the word responsible aquaculture we were talking about before our meet and greet about how the word sustainability has sometimes gotten a little bit of a bad connotation interesting to talk about the farm as a four-letter word, but also at the same time acknowledging protein, the healthiest protein being on seafood.
But along that question, maybe I’m going to segue before I asked. My other question would be what are the steps that you guys are doing in your company in terms of when Seaspiracy from Netflix came out? How did that affect the business? How were you able to address some of the concerns that they talked about them, since you mentioned anyway, about farming still has a bad reputation.
Guy Dean 06:04
The issue of Seaspiracy is, although there were a lot of things that weren’t factual in that so-called documentary, it wasn’t really a documentary. And the actual issues themselves were real. But they really occur with large scale industrial-type systems, whether it’s fishing or aquaculture. And they’re not new to us.
I mean, as you pointed out, at the very beginning of this interview, that I’ve been involved in the sustainability side of the industry for 15 years now, I’m really passionate about it. But we’ve been working on these things for the last 10 years. We know about human rights initiative issues, and illegal unreported unregulated fisheries, we know about a lot of the things that are going on.
And so we’ve been actively involved in working with the NGO community within other industry members, with the government to try to rectify or come up with clear solutions to those issues. So I mean, again, we’ve been at the forefront of this for a long time, trying to take an active role in creating change.
Lourdes Gant 07:10
Thank you for saying that. And I like that you also acknowledge that the issues that were mentioned in that, whether it’s a documentary or propaganda, or meant that the issues are very real, and that there are already some existing action steps to address all of those issues and challenges.
But I also love what you mentioned about some of these challenges about the unregulated fisheries. And as you know, some of the species are in the brink of collapse, and mining the stock. So all of these things are things that the whole agricultural industry is actually addressing, even before so if there’s one thing that I think that came out of that movement, it’s more on the awareness that it’s now for people who don’t know, it’s an education asset for us to say that, you know, this is happening, but there’s also some people who are working towards solving these problems.
So my last question, which is my favourite who but as you know, I asked all of my guests is, what are the future trends that you’re seeing in the aquaculture industry?
Guy Dean 08:17
From my perspective, I really have taken a strong interest in close containment. So recirculating aquaculture systems, I think that it has the ability, if it can be cracked, the nut can be cracked to create these kinds of systems, close to any major metropolitan area, reduce our carbon footprint and really create a real local food system.
And when the industry first started, there were a lot of scientists and engineers that would say, Well, I can create this 300 metric tonne facility and I can do this 500 metric tonne facility. And I was at a conference once and at the end of it all, after they came up with all their PowerPoints and everything I remember getting up and I said, it’s great that you can create that, but who’s gonna sell this.
And so none of them had any level of marketing or sales expertise. And so that’s what we’ve been, I’ve been trying to lend my support with that industry just to help them get to a better spot and how they promote that side of the industry.
I see seaweed culture as being huge on the mirror culture side. And not just for food production, but for carbon-sequestering can be used as a feed substitute in agriculture. So I see that as being a big trend moving forward. And then the last one, I would say is there’s a growing movement around marine pollution and plastics.
And aquaculture, unfortunately, is a big user of plastics. And so I see a growing trend towards finding alternatives to that plastic use. At least plastic that doesn’t necessarily break down, or it can be retrievable, maybe there are microchips that can go on the plastic, so you can find it easily with your boys and floats and such. So those would be the three, I would say.
Lourdes Gant 10:15
Thanks, guy. It’s interesting that you mentioned plastic because just today I received actually the communication that recycled plastics are going to be used in school. So this is a long line of the trend that you’re already seeing that in this movement.
So well, thank you very much for your time. I know you’re a very busy guy. But I also like the way that you mentioned all these trends, because this is the end of my season one. And so I’m so happy that I’m able to connect with you, we’re gonna have a little bit of a break for season two.
But my biggest takeaway from this call is when you mentioned the trend on the movement along the lines of the plastic being recycled because a lot of people know what the aquaculture industry has contributed with that in the past, but know again, that it’s an issue that’s being addressed. So thank you for saying that. Maybe you can tell our audience and our listeners where they can find you.
Guy Dean 11:08
You find me on LinkedIn. But if you have any if you want to contact me directly at guy@organicocean.com.
Lourdes Gant 11:15
Guy@organicocean.com. Thank you again, Guy. And remember, you helped build a home in the Philippines every time you listen to the podcast but by the b1g1.com. initiative. This concludes season one, we’re going to have a break, as I mentioned for a month, but we’ll be back in the fall in September. If you want to get in touch with us.
You can find us on Facebook, manage your holdings, and also on LinkedIn. Send us your feedback. And we’re going to accurately create a report out of the 15 guests that I have for season one or I’m going to have 45 future trends in the agriculture industry. And so guys thought contribution today is really going to be part of that as well.
Thank you very much again, Guy and thank you to all the listeners who have been a delight serving you all for season one and I look forward to seeing you all for season two. Thanks again, Guy.
Guy Dean 12:05
Yeah, you’re welcome, Lourd. Thank you for having me.
Lourdes Gant 12:11
Thank you for listening. And I hope you are inspired by this episode. You take a moment and share this with your friends and colleagues and rate and review the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. I’d love to know what your biggest takeaway from this conversation has been? What are you going to do differently? Please share your thoughts across social media and tag us for links and show notes for this episode, visit our website www.sustainableaquaculture.ca/podcast. Thank you again. I hope you will join me on the next episode and together we can help create a better business in aquaculture.
