Brooker has worked in category management alongside some of the world's biggest seafood retail buyers for the last five years. Often to be seen speaking at industry events, he has real passion around better educating the seafood consumer, and helping the industry address misperceptions that exist towards aquaculture and seafood products

IntraFish: How did you enter the seafood industry and why? What drew you to it as a career?

Matt Brooker: I entered the industry about five years ago when a role with The Fishin’ Company was presented to me. I initially did not know if it would be a lifelong career, but over time I began to understand just how unique and fascinating our industry is. My passion for the industry has grown exponentially over the years and I cannot think of a more fulfilling career. It truly is one of a kind. We are continually faced with new challenges and new opportunities to make a positive difference in everything from social issues to sustainable fisheries.

IF: What do you aim to achieve in the sector?

MB: There has been so much incredible progress in the sector over the last few decades by a number of organizations and companies. I am honored to follow the leaders that have gone before me and continue this advancement. My ultimate goal is to help create a sustainable, responsible, traceable, and transparent industry that our customers and the end consumers can trust and count on for centuries to come. There is so much potential in both wild-caught and farmed seafood -- we must be resilient in our efforts to reach that potential.

IF: Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

MB: Over the next 10 years, I would like to be a key driving factor in building a seafood industry for the future. I am fortunate enough to work for a company that sells a significant amount of both farmed and wild seafood. I have the exciting opportunity to take part in discussions on how to improve the industry at many seafood conferences around the world.

Sitting in various stakeholder groups and talking about what we want to do as an industry is the first important step, but I am privileged to work for a company that wants to actually be on the ground and get things done. Ten years from now, I want to look back and see the advances we have made collectively as an industry and know that my company and I played a significant part in that progress.

IF: In your view, what are the seafood industry's biggest future challenges?

MB: The challenges we face are constantly evolving and growing. A major challenge that we have today and will continue to have moving forward is managing the many cultures and world views that exist within this worldwide industry. Governments and corporations around the world have varying views of the importance of sustainability, environmental issues, and social welfare. Some feel these issues should be an assumed standard that humans should always strive for, and others see little value in putting effort into them. International cooperation is needed to solve many industry challenges and we must all agree on what improvements are necessities.

Another major challenge going forward will be educating our consumer. The end consumer remains largely worried and uninformed with the subject of farmed seafood and often times does not understand the importance of sustainably sourced seafood. We do a poor job of reaching out to the end consumer and building their trust. So much work is done up and down the supply chain but we often forget the last piece -- the person who actually consumes the product.

IF: What kind of people does the industry need to face these challenges and take it forward?

MB: Taking on the challenges of seafood over the next few decades will be a difficult task for the future leaders of the industry. The leaders that will take the seafood industry forward need to be tireless in their work ethic, committed to integrity, determined to reach their goals, and have a constant willingness to partner with suppliers, customers and competitors alike to bring about positive change.

The leaders at the Global Aquaculture Alliance like to say that working towards sustainable seafood is like peeling an onion -- every time we peel a layer away, we come across another challenge we didn’t know existed that needs to be addressed. Peeling this onion is a collective industry effort, not one that we should each be undertaking as individual companies.

IF: What could current leadership in your sector learn to be better at?

MB: There are many aspects of the seafood industry that are precompetitive -- sustainability, environmental issues, social welfare, consumer education, to name a few. These should be accomplished for the good of the industry and the world, not for exploitation or strictly for competitive advantage. We must accomplish them as a whole and must collaborate to make them happen effectively.

I think our natural competitive tendencies hinder the industry from accomplishing many of the important tasks that are before us. I see this happening among producers, suppliers, NGO’s, and others. The sustainable and responsible sourcing of seafood is not an option anymore, it is a necessity if the industry wants to endure for generations to come. Collaboration is required to ensure the correct and most effective steps are being taken among all stakeholders.

IF: What is the perception of the seafood industry as a career choice amongst younger people, do you think?

MB: Young people are always interested in what I do when I discuss my career, but I think they largely do not know what it exactly entails. Many young people generalize it as a very simple industry where a boat catches fish or a farmer farms shrimp and it ends up on their plate. They do not see the intricacy of things like fisheries management or third-party certifications. I know I was amazed when I began to see the work done behind the scenes.

I have also found that people are fascinated and interested by the worldwide aspect of the industry. People are often times very surprised when I am returning home from a trip to Vietnam or Chile. They do not realize that the seafood they eat on a regular basis comes from all over the world and that there is a career to be had in getting it here.

IF: What is the single best piece of career advice you have ever received?

MB: I have learned many invaluable career and life advice from a man I have incredible respect for, our founder and CEO Manish Kumar. These lessons have been instrumental in my development and helped form me into the person I am today. Manish spent much of his early career being a very young leader in the seafood industry. He knows and has experienced the difficulties of coming into an industry that has many established leaders with decades of experience.

He often encourages me to be confident in my talents and abilities as a young seafood professional and to continually trust my instinct and values as I navigate through this complicated industry. The confidence he has in me is not based on my age or number of years in the industry, it is in who I am as a person and the results I have produced in my time working for the company. By having this philosophy, Manish has built a team of young seafood professionals that can take our company into the future.

IF: What would you being doing professionally if you weren't in your current role?

MB: I really enjoy working across many cultures. This is one of the reasons that I love working in the industry so much. If I wasn’t working in seafood, I would love to work in some form of international business that would allow me to gain a better understanding of cultures and of the way business is conducted across the world. I am just very fortunate enough that I came across the perfect industry for me early on in my career.

This is the 33rd in our series of 40 profiles. To keep updated follow us on Twitter @IntraFish and @rachelintrafish #ifm40under40.

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