Mission:

Eating with the Ecosystem promotes a place-based approach to sustaining New England’s wild seafood, through flourishing food webs, healthy habitats, and short, adaptive seafood supply chains.

Vision:

A New England seafood system that supports the region’s marine ecosystems and the people who depend on them.

Purpose:

Eating with the Ecosystem is committed to pioneering a unique solution to the challenges of sustaining wild-caught fisheries. We envision a local seafood marketing system that mirrors ecosystem dynamics, supports and engages community-based fishermen, and creates system resilience through positive feedback loops between the people who eat seafood and the ecosystems that produce it. By introducing new mental models for food system planning and new avenues for consumer engagement, we work to replace a piecemeal and reductionist view of sustainability with a systems-based, place-bound template for sustainability that serves the long-term benefit of the New England region’s people and ecosystems.

Principles

Place-based. We celebrate and steward the fishery-supporting ecosystems of New England, from headwaters to the continental shelf. Our commitment to “local” runs through everything we do.

 Systems-oriented. We promote a vision of sustainability based on interconnections between habitats, food webs, fishermen, supply chains, and eaters, in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

 Forward-looking. We acknowledge that the environment is changing and that ecosystems are dynamic. We promote an adaptive approach that accommodates environmental flux and promotes socio-ecological adaptability in the face of uncertainty.

 Visionary. We pioneer innovative models for thinking about the role of markets in sustaining ecosystems. We connect the dots between two contemporary fields - foods systems and fisheries ecology - to produce a truly unique paradigm for sustaining wild seafood.

 Diverse and participatory. Our work is driven by many types of expertise and experience. Fishermen, chefs, scientists, food systems experts, and consumers all have a role to play in designing and implementing our vision of sustainability.

 Collaborative. We leverage the collective power of many partnerships. Our sleek, dynamic organizational structure relies on a networked approach to amplify our impact.

 Epicurean. We celebrate seafood’s role in providing food for our bodies and pleasure for our palates, and building community that connects us to place. New England’s seafood heritage provides the cultural cornerstone for our mission.

 Creative. We believe that education and aesthetics are the perfect pairing. Our materials and programs engage the public in ways that are playful, fun, and informative. 

Geographic Scope

Our geographic scope of interest includes coastal and offshore waters bordering New England, including the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and the northern portion of the Mid-Atlantic Bight, as well as their respective watersheds.