Lawrence hard at work as GSRA Fellow.

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A smoke infused fog blankets the sky as I reflect on the past months of learning about the realm of seafood rating organizations. While the skies over California, will hopefully clear soon, the issues plaguing our oceans and the food we harvest from them will continue to present international collective action problems.

My route to becoming the GSRA Fellow began at the end of 2019 before the world was aware that a viral pandemic was threatening to upend life as we know it. The full impact economic, social, and political impact of coronavirus may never be known, but its impact on the seafood industry and the Monterey Bay Aquarium was felt almost immediately.

As the pandemic progressed through March and into April, the Monterey Bay Aquarium made the difficult decision to lay off many of its staff members. I had been working as a volunteer for Seafood Watch, supporting staff members with their involvement with the GSRA. When the lay off was announced, my supervisor and Seafood Watch’s primary liaison to the GSRA was included. I decided to create a fellowship position in which I would take over the responsibilities as the coordinator of the GSRA. Because I had already been attending monthly GSRA meetings, I had established relationships with many of the members.

While the skies over California, will hopefully clear soon, the issues plaguing our oceans and the food we harvest from them will continue to present international collective action problems.

My work centered around administrative duties organizing monthly meetings, creating website updates, and producing social media campaigns. In June we welcomed WWF South Africa to the GSRA. I interviewed one of their program managers to create a blog post on the GSRA website announcing WWF South Africa’s entry into the group. Later in the month, I worked with staff members from Mar Viva, a seafood ratings organization based in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama to create a social media campaign for World Ocean’s Day.

I was able to fill a key organizational capacity need by being in the right place at the right time. The relationships I had developed over the months interacting with GSRA members gave me the trust I needed to effectively carry out the tasks of a technical coordinator.

As my time with the GSRA progressed, I realized that the organization could benefit from a continuous technical coordinator presence. From the beginning of the GSRA in 2016, members had expressed a need for this role. Various financial and organizational barriers prevented the GSRA from having a technical coordinator until I took on the role of the GSRA Fellow. I decided to write an internal memorandum summarizing my experience to the GSRA members and recommending that the fellowship position continue after I left. I was connected with an incoming MIIS IEP student and proposed that she take over my position. As I write I am in the middle of training her to succeed in the role.

Turn over presents challenges to every organization. The issue is at the heart of sustainability for all organizations. Mass layoffs during a global pandemic present both unique challenges and opportunities to an international alliance. I was able to fill a key organizational capacity need by being in the right place at the right time. The relationships I had developed over the months interacting with GSRA members gave me the trust I needed to effectively carry out the tasks of a technical coordinator. I have faith that when the smoke clears the GSRA will continue to provide a place for productive collaboration and learning for the seafood ratings industry.

Advice to MIIS Students

In my experience, people in leadership positions respect initiative. Initiative can take many forms, from offering to take meetings notes, to saying yes to a follow-up action item. These actions signal to leaders that you can be trusted and you are able to handle responsibility. I’ve reflected on these ideas through the lens of “managing up”. If you are in a junior position, it might be uncomfortable to initiate a meeting or a project. We all have some level of imposter syndrome to work through. The sooner you can recognize that and move through it, the more success you might have in completing a project. I think MIIS students should give ourselves credit for the knowledge and skills we bring from our courses of study. Our perspectives provide a fresh take for organizations that might be stuck in a specific way of thinking.

Initiative can take many forms, from offering to take meetings notes, to saying yes to a follow-up action item. These actions signal to leaders that you can be trusted and you are able to handle responsibility.