Propeller Club
Fishermen’s Finest sponsored the October 2022 Propeller Club function at Old Stove in Ballard on Wednesday, October 19th.
Fishermen’s Finest is a commercial fishing fleet on a mission to feed the world. This work goes hand-in-hand with careful stewardship of natural resources and protection of our environment says Helena Park, CEO. ‘As commercial fishermen we are the stewards of the fishery. It is an important public resource and it is our responsibility to manage it respectfully, sustainably, and to reduce our carbon footprint to the maximum extent practicable.’
At the event, General Manager, Kristian Uri addressed the crowd (largest post-pandemic function so far for the Seattle Propeller Club).
Fishermen’s Finest – 3 H&G Trawlers / 300 crew work 5-6 months at sea/year:
· American No.1 built 1979 MARCO Seattle – 160’ 39 crew currently on trip 20 in the Bering Sea
· U.S. Intrepid built 1979 Bourge Louisiana – 185’ 43 crew currently on trip 24 in the Bering Sea
· America’s Finest 2019 Dakota Creek Anacortes – 262’ 50 crew currently on trip 17 in the Bering Sea
ITS ALL ABOUT THE CREW – good boats/poor crew = failure
Good people are the key to our success
· 25% of our crew have worked for us for 10+ years (up to 36 years – Erin Moore)
· 30% 3 - 10 years
2016 – 6 years to the day I addressed the Seattle Propeller Club and brought the membership along on our shipbuilding journey (I realized this morning); good omen for my talk today – BUILDING AMERICA’S FINEST – still up on our website as well as the power point presentation from the event. The Propeller Club has been along for the ride with us from the start of America’s Finest.
Goal of Carbon Neutral Fleet – building new fishing vessels in the US is difficult and we need more new vessels. The average age of the US Fishing fleet is 38+ years – we have the richest fish stocks in the world and the worst fleets. Everything we do at FFI is with a goal of sharing what we have learned and encouraging our ‘friendly’ competitors to build new boats and preferably to build them in the State of WA.
King County Carbon Credits – Fishermen’s Finest, together with Microsoft purchased the first King County sponsored carbon credits – the Soaring Eagle Park will forever offset our carbon
Jones Act Protection – FFI is a board member of the American Maritime Partnership – the broadest and deepest coalition ever assembled to represent the domestic maritime industry; maintaining the Jones Act as the foundation of America’s domestic maritime policy.
Environmental Defense Fund – FFI sits on the board of the EDF Technical Committee, dedicated to developing technology to be deployed and scaled in order to tackle the most pressing environmental challenges facing our oceans.
Kirkland Chamber of Commerce – FFI sits on the board of the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce – building and supporting our pro-business community from which we run our Company.
Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial – FFI sits on the board of and is proud to support the Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial – a place for the Seattle fishing community to remember their past leaders/fishermen-women as well as a charity providing educational grants for the children of those lost at sea and free safety training for local fishermen.
Green Marine: FFI is the first commercial fishing fleet to achieve certification under the Green Marine environmental certification program for the maritime industry. Other local members include WA State Ferries and Puget Sound Pilots. This worldwide program’s participating members distinguish themselves within the marine sector as they undertake to measure their annual environmental performance with clear goals to reduce their footprint – performance subject to regular audit.
DNV: All FFI vessels are maintained to the standards set forth by Det Norske Veritas. This third party, independent agency assures our vessels are maintained to the highest industry standards.
Sustainable Century award – Fishermen’s Finest was awarded the 2022 Port of Seattle Sustainable Century Award for environmental innovation.
‘Further to Kristian’s comments, I want to add that Fishermen’s Finest is the first and only commercial fishing company to date to receive an environmental award from the Port of Seattle. They have performed a lot of very good, hard work. Well deserved!’
Kelli Goodwin – Port of Seattle Senior Maritime Operations Manager
