Profiles

Zeke Grader

Zeke Grader is the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), which is based in San Francisco. The PCFFA, a federation of 25 different port and fishermen's marketing associations from San Diego to Alaska, is the largest trade association of commercial fishermen on the West Coast. Grader has been its executive director for 26 years and has been involved in the fishing industry his entire life.

What is your favorite seafood to eat?
Wild salmon.

How did you get interested in the issue of sustainable seafood? And how important is salmon to you?
I’ve been in the fishing industry all my life, mostly in the seafood distribution and marketing side. In order to protect some of our resources, we began to think about sustainability in California back in the ‘50s. The whole salmon restoration effort toward sustainability started in California in about 1956. In fact, it’s the only reason we still have salmon in this state, because the development pressures would have just destroyed the fish had there not been a consortium of commercial and sport fishermen. There weren’t many conservationists or fishery biologists around back then.

How would you describe your philosophy on ocean conservation?
I think it was not so much a conscious decision of wanting to be a conservationist or an environmentalist; it was simply an economic necessity. You either protected the fish stocks or you’re out of business. It was just as simple as that. I think it was pretty clear to myself and a number of others that it didn’t matter what government or others did. If you didn’t have fish, you wouldn’t be fishing.

How has your ocean conservation philosophy changed over the years?
I think it’s gotten more sophisticated as we’ve learned more. We’ve developed a better knowledge of the issues over the course of time.

Why do you support Seafood Choices Alliance?
Because of a commonality of interests. From our perspective, there are three things that are critical to maintaining our fisheries and our whole way of life. First of all, having fish stocked, which means you’ve got to work to conserve and protect their habitats; second, you must have access to them; and third, you need to have markets. Therefore, it’s critical to us that we have consumers out there that understand this. (That’s one of the reasons we’re big on labeling campaigns, for example.)

So we’re doing the damnedest we can to make sure we get a good product to market, that the consumer knows about it, and that they’re comfortable with it. It’s important to us that consumers know their seafood wasn’t caught in a destructive manner.

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