Category: News

The John P. Connelly Memorial Fund has successfully met its goal with SIRF Board members’ help by raising $91,725 in donations. The Seafood Industry Research Fund (SIRF) Board created this memorial fund in honor of John Connelly who was the third president of NFI and secretary and treasurer of SIRF from 2003 to 2022. John was a passionate seafood advocate and leader who led fundamental change in the seafood industry. He was a beloved husband, father, and friend with a charismatic personality.  

Donate to the John P. Connelly Memorial Fund here.

Ways to describe Christine Ngo: President of H&N Group, Board Member of SIRF and industry powerhouse. Her journey with seafood began with her family. She was born in Vietnam and her family came to America in 1979. Her father went on to start H&N Group’s company back in 1981 as a local distribution company in San Francisco.  

Ngo’s focus remained on her education as she grew; after graduating from college, her mother asked her to join the company. Her mother felt that with her education and experience with the English language she could help to fill any gaps in the company. However, Ngo said that her father didn’t really need her help. “Really he was a self-starter that actually built his company successfully and obtained good employees that helped him along the way as well,” Ngo said.  

Ngo officially joined the company in 1997, and the rest was history.  

Ngo is grateful for the opportunities in the seafood world she has been privy to, which led her to her current position on the SIRF Board of Directors. She was asked to join SIRF in 2019 by John Connelly and Bill Dresser, whom she’d known for years. 

Ngo believes the best part of her work with SIRF is getting to be a part of the research projects, getting to see the projects being presented that are highlighting the technical advances being made in the seafood world. “I think [with] those projects, you just start to see a different dynamic of what it can become,” Ngo said.  

Being on the SIRF Board, Ngo has realized that even though there might be a disagreement over a proposal, it is put on the backburner and all focus is put into the expected result. “And so, when the result comes out to achieve the intended purpose, we all agree. It’s not hard, because we all want to do it for the right reasons,” Ngo said.  

Ngo leads with heart and through adversity. She comes from a humble family that immigrated and feels very fortunate for the success they’ve had. She can focus on the good nature she witnessed from her parents’ hearts and employ in the leadership positions she holds.  

Christine leads through adversity because of the challenges she and her family faced. Being a part of the industry, she has gotten to go out to fish farms and has seen how hard the people work. “It humbles you in a way that you need to respect all people in the value chain, not just product, but certainly people overall,” Ngo said. 

When discussing the world of seafood sustainability and research, Ngo believes that food safety is the number one priority. She believes that sustainability used to take priority, but with social media’s quick turnaround, achieving sustainability is an endless goal. The greatest focus now needs to be on food safety and ensuring more research and correct information is being put into the stream of media.  

Outside of seafood, Christine has three boys and a family that is very close. Her hands are full, but her heart is filled with love. Her second love is food and travel. “I will travel for food. I prefer to go to a restaurant more than I would like to go to a monument,” she said.  

She believes there’s no better way to understand a culture than to physically digest it. With her family’s background in seafood, Ngo has been able to travel the world from a young age.  Being able to enjoy seafood cuisine from all over the world, Ngo said she thinks “what we all love about the seafood world is that we also get to eat it.”  

Meet Bill Dresser, a man of land and water (mainly water), also known as the CEO/owner of Sea Port Products Corporation and Seafood Industry Research Fund (SIRF) board member. Dresser’s unexpected journey in the seafood industry began about 43 years ago when his father started a seafood company.  

From the beginning, Sea Port Products Corporation was dedicated to ethically sourcing seafood from the best global providers. Dresser explained that at the time, he was going to become a lawyer, but his father asked him if he would put a pause on law school and come help him start the business. “And that was back in 1981 and I’m so glad he did that, because I’ve never looked back, but it was my dad and his vision.” Dresser said. 

Dresser’s journey with SIRF started when he was a chairman at the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), seeing the relationship between NFI and SIRF, which back then was the Fisheries Scholarship Fund (FSF). He recognized SIRF’s potential and later became a full board member.  

Outside of the office (which can happen on rare occasions), Dresser describes himself as a ‘water boy,’ spending most of his time on or in the water, golfing and when able, fishing. Like many in the industry, Dresser has a difficult time nailing down a favorite seafood dish. However, he came to narrow his selection down to raw fish and seasonal items, cherishing the stone crab claw that comes out of Florida or the crab cakes from Maryland.  

When asked about his favorite part of SIRF, he found it difficult to narrow down to just one thing. It’s SIRF’s overall message that means the most to him, the idea of giving back to an industry that has given so much to him. Propelling the industry forward and coming together as a board for a common goal: seafood research and safety.  

Dresser knows the importance of seafood being an ever-changing industry, having to constantly adjust to the challenges they may face. In a time of rapidly changing media and social platforms, information and misinformation regarding seafood spreads quickly.  

“We all believe that seafood is the greatest protein on this planet, we believe that from every standpoint, meaning we think it’s the most sustainable,” Dresser said. He’s incredibly passionate about the ongoing push for sustainability and research being shared within the industry and consumers.   

Dresser believes a common goal is what holds the board to a common understanding, with a variety of different backgrounds providing differing perspectives. He explained that the board has “been diligent to assure that we are getting diverse perspectives and then bringing them to the table” 

Dresser explained that as a board, the most important trait is listening, when the SIRF board discusses what research projects to invest in, it is integral to listen. It’s about finding what is most prescient in the industry, and then being proactive. Finding the line between research and advocacy, as SIRF focuses on research while NFI focuses on advocacy, in a group of diverse backgrounds and different opinions. Dresser has a unique understanding of this balance with his past at NFI and his present at SIRF and Sea Port.  

When thinking about the future of seafood and sustainability, Dresser recounts his journey with the industry: “When I started 43 years ago, wild fisheries were operating at about 90% and aquaculture items were operating at 10%. Today, you’re having aquaculture tip the scales and doing more than 50% to 60% and wild fisheries dropping to 40% to 45%,” Dresser explained. Rather than competition, one is serving the other.  

Dresser clearly holds a genuine love and affinity for the industry. The seafood industry is an art form as he describes it, not black and white but rather a picture painted by the field’s researchers and stakeholders. That’s why he loves the acronym SIRF, as surfing is a beautiful art form itself; one of balance.  

He truly understands the importance of navigating the wave, not being who makes or forms it, but understanding the wave enough to be able to ride it.  

“So, I love that when we rebranded from the Fishery Scholarship Fund to SIRF, that was perfect, because that’s what we’re doing. We’re surfing,” said Dresser.  

Meet Ben Schwartz, a shellfish aficionado, a road cyclist, a SIRF Board member and Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance at Harbor Seafood Inc. Schwartz was confirmed to the seat in 2021, based on recommendations from the previous holder, Pete Cardone, and Schwartz’s former Quality Assurance mentor Stephen Thompson. Among the many wonderful attributes of SIRF, Schwartz favors the ability to support research and education through seafood industry funding. Schwartz enjoys being able to honor the legacy of past and present titans of the industry through living and memorial funds.   

Schwartz professes the importance of education; and how vital it is to support the next generation of scientists focused on the seafood industry to benefit consumers. As a part of what he would call a “small-big” industry, Schwartz’s perspective on the seafood industry was shaped early on with his Introduction to SIRF through involvement in the National Fisheries Institute and its Future Leaders Program, which he is grateful for Harbor Seafood ownership sponsoring him for the class of 2016. The program gave him the insight to see the relationships built between the large and small players of the industry. He saw the importance of every piece of the supply chain and their focus on a common goal, providing healthy meals to people all over the world  

Working with SIRF has translated directly into his daily work with Food Safety Quality Assurance (FSQA), as SIRF supports and funds different research projects related to FSQA. Schwartz travelled with Margaret Malkoski, SIRF’s scientific liaison to visit Dr. Dan Distel at the marine science center of Northeastern University, where a DNA database for commercially traded seafood was funded to help combat seafood fraud.   

There are some aspects of the seafood industry that have been eye opening for Schwartz since working with SIRF. Working with the Board gave him a stronger understanding of how the industry can support research and development. The SIRF funds focus more on applied scientific and research fields, and is a side of the industry most are not as well-versed in.   

The Board itself is built of all different backgrounds and works as a whole body with a variety of perspectives and voices. Bringing different views together to create one voice   is of the utmost importance. Guiding such an immense industry, Schwartz takes a lot of inspiration from former SIRF Board Member and founder of Harbor Seafood Pete Cardone, whom he describes as a big proponent of detail-oriented research and charitable endeavors that helped to support the seafood industry. Schwartz’s goal is to make clear lines of communication that allow and encourage collaboration.   

In 2020, the FDA launched an initiative called the “New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint”. It has four main pillars: tech-enabled traceability, smarter tools and approaches for prevention and outbreak response, new business models, and retail modernization. Still working to be fully 

implemented by the FDA, it can be difficult to apply new regulations for such a vast industry. 

For Schwartz, these pillars are a large part of his daily routine; traceability and foodborne illness prevention are at the forefront of food safety and quality assurance. He underlines the importance of advancing technology for traceability in such a complex category.   

In the same vein of technology and traceability, the future of safety in the seafood industry grows as demand heightens. Seafood has always fallen into the healthy alternative category; however, the stigma surrounding the food hasn’t left. Schwartz explains that seafood is always the scapegoat when it comes to food poisoning, not the appetizer or the drinks; it must have been the fish. The focus on food safety in the future is to provide confidence to consumers.  

Working with other companies, institutions, industries, and academia, like SIRF, will allow the development of new tools to help FSQA and allow for more efficiency as well.