The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has appointed three new members to its Board of Directors and two new members to its Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). The organization said these recruits bring extensive experience in fisheries science and management, economics, sustainability standards and global marketing, with the aim to further strengthen ISSF’s cross-sector approach to advancing the long-term conservation and sustainable use of global tuna fisheries.
New appointments to ISSF’s Board of Directors
ISSF has welcomed to its Board of Directors Melissa Murphy, Distinguished Service Professor of Marketing and Corporate Entrepreneurship; Dr Josu Santiago, Head of the Tuna Research Area, AZTI; and Amanda Stern-Pirlot, Chief Standards Officer, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
The ISSF Board is composed of a diverse group of leaders from NGOs, marine science, government agencies and the seafood industry, representing multiple countries. This structure ensures ISSF conservation measures, with which ISSF participating companies commit to conform, are shaped by a balance of scientific rigour, market realities, and on-the-water experience.
“ISSF is unique in bringing together scientists, NGOs, governments, and seafood companies in a single governance model,” said Susan Jackson, ISSF President. “This diversity isn’t symbolic — it is essential to designing conservation measures that are both science-based and implementable in real fishing operations. Our new board members deepen that strength.”
New ISSF Scientific Advisory Committee members
ISSF has also welcomed Dr Patrice Guillotreau, Senior Researcher, IRD – French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development, and Dr Graham M. Pilling, Deputy Director, FAME (Head of the Oceanic Fisheries Programme), The Pacific Community (SPC), to its SAC — a group of leading marine and fisheries scientists.
In addition to offering guidance on ISSF research priorities and supporting the many technical reports ISSF publishes — notably the annual Status of the Stocks report and analysis of tuna fisheries against MSC Fisheries Standard criteria — the SAC also provides reference material for the ISSF Board of Directors to consider prior to acting on sustainability efforts.
“We are honoured to add Dr Guillotreau and Dr Pilling to our SAC,” said Dr Victor Restrepo, ISSF Vice President, Science & Chair, SAC. “Their experience – spanning stock assessment, harvest strategies, economics, and socio-ecological systems of tuna fisheries – will enhance the scientific foundation that drives ISSF conservation measures, policy appeals and research efforts.”
ISSF has also extended its appreciation to two long-serving SAC members: Dr John Hampton and Dr Dale Squires, who are concluding their service.
Hampton served as Chief Scientist of the Fisheries Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems Division of the SPC, focusing on oceanic fisheries. His work spans the biology and ecology of tunas, fisheries monitoring, stock assessment, and harvest strategy development for western and central Pacific tuna fisheries.
Squires served as the senior scientist and economist at the US National Marine Fisheries Service, while also carrying out his duties as an honorary professor at the University of Southern Denmark and as an adjunct professor of economics at the University of California San Diego.
