Menu
About Us
Who we are
Who We Are
The Northwest Aquaculture Alliance (NWAA) represents the leading aquaculture producers and support-related businesses in the Pacific region–including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Hawaii, British Columbia, and Alaska.
Alliance members share a vision of feeding the world with high-quality, sustainably and responsibly produced, nutritious fish, shellfish, and sea vegetables–farmed in marine waters, freshwater, or in land-based operations that our members offer to local, regional, and global markets.
Why Aquaculture?
The world needs more protein. And, as we all learned from the pandemic, and realize during times of global unrest, the United States cannot rely solely on imports to meet consumer demand for seafood. It’s time to grow it here. We can. We must.
Currently, the USA ranks 16th in the world in aquaculture production. The Pacific region, with its abundant supply of natural resources, know-how, and hard-working people, can—and should—produce enough farmed seafood to help the U.S. compete with imports from other aquaculture-producing countries.
Aquaculture currently provides more than half of the seafood consumed worldwide—and that percentage is increasing as global demand for seafood continues to rise and wild fisheries are fully exploited.
Our Board of Directors
Jim Parsons – NWAA President
CEO, Jamestown Seafood
Port Angeles, Washington
Svein Wiese-Hansen
Division Operations Manager Aquaculture, Pacific Seafood
Clackamas, Oregon
James E. (Jim) Parsons assumed the role of CEO of Jamestown Seafood in late August 2021. Jamestown Seafood raises and harvests seafood from the cold clean waters along the Strait of Juan de Fuca at the entrance of Puget Sound.
The company operates from tribal lands within Sequim Bay, offering several varieties of oysters, geoduck clams, and oyster seed.
Carrington Gorman
Technical Sales Manager
Rangen, Inc.
Buhl, ID
Kevin Bright
Permit Coordinator
Cooke Aquaculture Pacific
Kevin Bright is a 30-year veteran of the aquaculture industry, having worked in various technical and leadership roles—including water quality analysis, plankton monitoring, regulatory compliance, and diving—since 1990. A graduate of Western Washington University with an emphasis on Marine Studies, Kevin previously worked for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as well as a research vessel for the University of Alaska.
Jeff Hetrick
Director, Alutiiq
Pride Marine Institute
Seward, Alaska
Jeff Hetrick is a 40-year veteran of the Alaska aquaculture industry. Prior to taking over the role of Director of the Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute (APMI) in Seward, Alaska, in 2002, Jeff spent 20 years in salmon enhancement, working for private non-profits as well as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
APMI produces oysters and geoducks for the aquatic farm industry, and also produces several varieties of clams for beaches in South Central Alaska—including littleneck, butter, and razor clams. Through APMI, Jeff is heavily involved in the study of ocean acidification and its impacts on shellfish.
A founding member of the Alaska Shellfish Growers Association, Jeff also operated an oyster farm in Prince William Sound prior to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.
Claudio R. Cerda S.
General Manager, Troutlodge
Claudio R. Cerda Silva currently serves as General Manager of Troutlodge, a Bonney Lake, Washington-based division of Hendrix-Genetics, a global leader in animal breeding, technology, and genetics. At Troutlodge, he leads a 60-person team, and has plans “to bring Troutlodge to version 2.0.”
Cerda, a Chilean citizen, received his Engineer in Aquaculture degree from Universidad de Los Lagos, in Osorno, Chile. During his 28-year career, he has worked in Chile, Ecuador and the United States, managing operations primarily focused on salmon, and trout; in addition, Cerda spent four years managing a shrimp farm in Ecuador for a joint venture between global feed company, Skretting, Hendrix-Genetics, and a local shrimp producer.
Cerda believes his experience in the major species in aquaculture as well as his leadership in several companies will help him to understand, visualize and analyze the production processes in a global and more effective way.
Sean Nepper
Chief Brood Officer, VP Fish Health
Riverence
Rochester, Washington
Riverence is a land-based farm that raises steelhead trout eggs in Washington in a state-of-the-art RAS facility that maximizes natural water resources and capacity that takes advantage of both the latest technology and the expertise of the Riverence team. Riverence transports its eggs to grow-out farms that are located along the Snake River in Idaho’s Magic Valley.
Svein Wiese-Hansen
Division Operations Manager Aquaculture, Pacific Seafood
Clackamas, Oregon
Svein Wiese-Hansen currently holds the position of Division Operations Manager, Aquaculture, for Clackamas, Oregon-based Pacific Seafood Group, a company he has worked with since 2008.
In addition to serving for three consecutive terms on the Board of Directors for the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association (PCSGA), Wiese-Hansen has participated in the highly competitive Future Leaders Program of the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), a program that helps prepare young seafood industry professionals to become leaders in their organizations.
In addition to his experience in shellfish aquaculture, Wiese-Hansen “learned the ropes” of finfish aquaculture, working since age 18 for Scan Am Fish Farms, a family-owned and operated salmon farming company in Anacortes, Washington, and later worked for the farm’s subsequent owners, Pan Fish and American Gold. While he started out in a labor-focused position, within 10 years, Wiese-Hansen rose through the ranks to become an assistant manager—handling everything along the way from mechanical repairs to commercial scuba diving, operating vessels (30-100 foot), feeding fish, fish husbandry, and performing various administrative duties.
Jacqueline (Jackie) Zimmerman
National Account Manager for North American Aquaculture
Merck Animal Health
Prior to joining Merck Animal Health, Zimmerman was USA Sales Manager for Skretting North America. During her career, she has worked with many species—including Moi, Amberjack, Sablefish, Cobia, California halibut, and Red Snapper, where she worked on larval culture enhancement. Zimmerman has also served on several aquaculture boards—including the US Trout Farmers Association, the California Aquaculture Association, and Idaho Aquaculture Association. She currently serves as Chair of the Industry Advisory Committee for the Western Regional Aquaculture Center.
Zimmerman earned a Master’s degree in Marine Sciences from the University of Southern Mississippi, and an Associate’s of Science degree in Animal Health Technology from Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, CA. She also holds an undergraduate degree in Marine Biology from Hawaii Pacific University.
Dick Jones – NWAA Treasurer
CEO, Blue Ocean Mariculture
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Dick Jones is the CEO of Blue Ocean Mariculture, currently the only open-ocean finfish aquaculture company in the United States.
His passion for the ocean started very early in life, leading him to his first full-time job working at his family’s seafood processing business on the Boston Fish Pier in 1986. His diverse career includes 14 years overseeing seafood operations at Whole Foods Market and HEB Grocery.
Over the past 12 years, he has been a leader in the non-profit sector–working with industry, governments, and development agencies to implement improved practices at fisheries and aquaculture operations globally.
Jones is a co-founder of Sea Pact, a group of leading North American seafood companies dedicated to driving stewardship and continuous improvement of social, economic, and environmental responsibility throughout the global seafood supply chain. He is also a founding trustee of ThinkAqua, a non-profit whose mission is to improve the performance of small-scale aquaculture in Africa and ASEAN nations.
He has served as a Director or Advisor to several organizations, including the California Salmon Council, the Aquaculture Certification Council, the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions, World Resources Institute, Fair Trade USA, and Ocean Outcomes.
Langley Gace
Senior Vice President Innovasea Systems Inc. Bainbridge Island, Washington
Langley Gace is Senior Vice President of Innovasea Systems, a company committed to developing the next wave of innovative, open-ocean products to support the growing marine aquaculture industry.
Gace formerly the president of Washington-based OceanSpar, LLC, a pioneer in the development of submersible net pens for open ocean aquaculture. In 2015, OceanSpar merged with Open Farm Technologies to form Innovasea Systems, a new company committed to developing the next wave of innovative, open-ocean products to support the growing marine aquaculture industry.
Ron Malnor
Sales Manager, Bio-Oregon / Skretting
Longview, Washington
Skretting got its start in Stavanger, Norway in 1899, selling feed and equipment to agriculture producers. Today, the company is an international leader in the manufacture and supply of aquaculture feeds, operating globally, with 3,500 employees in various countries. Its North American production facilities are located in Toole, Utah; Vancouver, BC; and St. Andrews, NB, Canada.
A leading supplier of fish feeds to the Washington state aquaculture industry, Skretting also supplies fish feeds to Washington State’s salmonid hatchery programs with the Department of Fish and Wildlife via its subsidiary, Bio-Oregon. Bio-Oregon operates fish feed distribution centers in Washington State and Westbrook, Maine.
Hugh Mitchell, DVM
Founder/Owner, AquaTactics Fish Health Services
Kirkland, Washington
AquaTactics is a-globally respected Washington-owned fish veterinary services company that provides fish health consultation and fish health tools such as custom prescription vaccines and medications for public, tribal and private fish culture facilities. AquaTactics also provides pharmaceutical and biologics product and facility registration and licensing consultation and participates in cooperative fish health research projects.
Walter T. Pereyra, Ph.D.
Chairman, Arctic Storm Management Group
Dr. Walter T. (Wally) Pereyra, a 50-year veteran of the seafood industry, serves on the Board of Directors of the Northwest Aquaculture Alliance as well as on the board of several international conservation groups.
Recognized as a pioneer of the Alaska groundfish sector, Dr. Pereyra has served as a Vice-Chairman of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, as Chairman of the National Fisheries Institute, has served on the federal Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee to the US Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior. Dr. Pereyra earned his BA degree in Zoology from the University of Maine, followed by both MS and Ph.D. degrees in Fisheries from the College of Fisheries at the University of Washington.
Sebastian Perversi
Commercial Director, North America
Cargill Aquaculture & Nutrition
Sebastian Perversi has spent nearly two decades at Cargill, where he currently serves as Commercial Director, North America, for Cargill Aquaculture & Nutrition. He previously held the position of the Strategic Marketing and Technology Director (EMEA) for Cargill Animal Nutrition, residing in the Netherlands. He now resides in Washington state.
Born in Argentina, Perversi attended the University of Buenos Aires, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering, followed by a Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
STAFF
Jeanne McKnight, Ph.D. – Executive Director
SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD
Linda A. Chaves – Chair
Walt Dickhoff, Ph.D.
John Forster, Ph.D.
Ron Hardy, Ph.D.
Robert Iwamoto, Ph.D.
Cathy Roheim, Ph.D.
MEMBERS
ABOUT US
The NWAA advocates for the sustainable production of aquatic foods and represents aquaculture producers and support-related businesses in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, and British Columbia.
THE ORGANIZATION
NWAA Newsletter
Sign up to receive the latest NWAA news.
Site by Walsh Design and SeaMonster Studios