2018 Seafood Marketing Symposium

Monica Jain, founder and executive director of Fish 2.0 and Manta Consulting inc., is dedicated to growing networks that bring together her top passions: fisheries and the oceans, finance, and impact investment. She launched Fish 2.0 in 2013 to create a network of quality entrepreneurs and investors who could grow the sustainable seafood sector. Since then, she has worked with over 400 entrepreneurs, 300 investors, and 40 sponsors to grow Fish 2.0.

Monica was named a White House Champion of Change for Sustainable Seafood in October 2016 for her achievements with Fish 2.0 and her longstanding work advancing ocean conservation and sustainable seafood. Her career spans 30 years and 4 continents, encompassing marine biology, philanthropy, venture capital, banking, and international development in such far-flung locales as New Zealand, Madagascar, Latin America, and Spain, as well as the United States.

Alongside Fish 2.0, she continues her work as a strategic advisor and consultant to foundations, investors, and corporations, helping them launch initiatives and build partnerships. She has supported the development of corporate sustainability strategies, spawned philanthropic initiatives, and helped dozens of companies find aligned investment. Monica holds degrees from Stanford University and the Wharton School of Business.

After 15 years building regional Australia’s largest advertising agency, Ben Hale was looking forward to an early retirement in 2007 when a couple of Queensland seafood stalwarts challenged him to solve a marketing challenge for Endeavour Prawns.

The campaign that resulted helped return a fleet to profitability for less than the cost of replacing an auxiliary engine.

Fast forward 11 years and Ben still spends every day finding new ways to encourage Australians to celebrate more often with local seafood as the manager the ACPF and APFA’s “Love Australian Prawns” campaign.

The call of Tasmania is hard to ignore and the ocean even harder.

Abby returned to Tasmania from Hong Kong five years ago with a reignited passion for food. How we grow it, consume it and most importantly the value we place in it.

Calling Tasmania’s southern coast home and with over ten years spent creating marketing content for Australia’s largest family owned and run aquaculture company across Australia and Asia, Abby has seen the recent rapid growth of consumption in salmon and the broader aquaculture sector and how this has changed the consumer and producer appetite first hand. Two years travelling the world as a 2015 Nuffield scholar provided Abby with practical marketing solutions for Australian seafood producers.

After 15 years of working in the advertising industry, Tom had a literal sea change on his 32nd birthday. Instead of writing commercials to sell Mitsubishi Magnas, he thought it might be more fun to become a fisherman. He quickly worked out that fishing was a lot harder than he thought, so he ended up falling back on his marketing experience to help change the perception of a clam previously used just for bait.

Michael is the Director and owner of Intuitive Solutions a market research consultancy. Michael and his team have worked extensively with a number of the Research and Development Corporations including FRDC, Dairy Australia, Cotton RDC and the Council of RDCs. Intuitive also work with a number of clients in the banking and finance sector (including ANZ Bank), the arts (festivals and major event programs), consumer brands and sport organisations and club. Intuitive have worked with FRDC and SIA on building a greater understanding of consumer attitudes and behaviours towards seafood and the industry.

JPeter Horvat is a Communications professional with more than 20 years of experience in Australian Government Communications working across a number of portfolios including health, transport and pesticides and veterinary medicine, as well managing two federal advertising campaigns. Peter is the head of Australia’s Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, responsible for the coordination of communication activities across over 400 projects Australia wide. With almost ten years working with Rural Research and Development Corporations Peter has an in-depth knowledge and understanding of Australia’s primary production landscape. He has worked with all sectors of the Australian fishing and aquaculture industries looking at both domestic and international issues. His current focus is on increasing public awareness of the best practice and management of Australia’s fishing industry.

Julie has extensive experience as a senior marketing executive in the FMCG sector and more recently the Seafood Industry.

Working for blue chip organisations including Simplot, Nestle, Lion and Heinz plus international companies Agthia group in the UAE and The Annam Group in Indochina and most recently as Global General Manager Marketing and Product Development at Clean Seas Seafood Limited.

After 15 years studying the social science of Queensland fisheries, Dr Renae Tobin has recently embarked on a new adventure with husband Dr Andrew Tobin, selling local seafood with a story, through their seafood and fish and chip store ‘Tobin Fish Tales’.

Through her research, she has developed an in-depth knowledge of the Queensland seafood industry, an understanding of public perception of the industry, and a sense of the desire of consumers for local seafood. Using this knowledge and the links she and Andrew have developed with the commercial fishing industry, Renae is striving to rebuild the connection between wild catch commercial fishers and the Australian public.

Johnathon Davey is the Executive Director of Seafood Industry Victoria. Johnathon’s daily workload involves liaison with industry leaders, licence holders, government and non-government institutions advocating for the Victorian seafood industry. Prior to taking his role at SIV, Johnathon was with the then Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry as the Assistant Director in International Fisheries. Johnathon has a passion for seafood and fishing, ensuring the industry is secure and sustainable into the future.

Johnathon sits on a range of boards and committees for industry’s benefit, including as the Chair of the Aquaculture and WildCatch Industry Reference Committee.

For the past 13 years Damien has been a commercial fisherman in the Peel Harvey estuary harvesting “fresh, local and sustainable” fin fish and blue swimmer crabs.

Damien holds degrees from JCU (Hons.) and Curtin University (BSc.) and has work experience in:

– the WA Rock Lobster fishing industry
– fish processing and live transport
– pearling in WA, Myanmar and Indonesia

He has aided in guiding a more co-management approach when dealing with Fisheries Managers, research staff, government advisers, WAFIC and fellow fishers.

During his ten year tenure as President of the Mandurah Licensed Fisherman’s Association (MLFA), the group that has developed an Environmental Management System, a Resource Sharing Program as well as a world-first in MSC certification, all in the aim of increasing social licence to operate, increasing the marketability and the profile of our product in a sustainability driven environmental culture, whilst also maintaining resource access.

Pia has worked across sustainable marine industry development and academia for the past 20 years; integrating marine food production systems with the environment, to deliver potent nutritional benefits to society. Pia has been involved in numerous clinical studies using marine sourced nutrition to demonstrate the case that it is essential to human wellbeing, but then also that we need sustainable production methods to deliver on that need. Pia is now on a commercial pathway with a mission to take new Australian marine crops through to healthy and accessible food for all…. everyday.

– Managing Director Shimano Australia Fishing
– Managing Director Shimano Oceania Holdings
– Director Shimano New Zealand
– President Australian Fishing Trade Association “AFTA”
– Member AFTA board past 5 years