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Wendy Norden

Wendy Norden
Monterey Bay Seafood Watch
Director of Science and Global Strategy
/ Wendy Norden

Wendy Norden directs the Science and Global Impacts teams of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program, maintaining a rigorous scientific framework to evaluate the environmental sustainability of global wild capture fisheries and aquaculture operations. She oversees the research process that develops recommendations that inform consumers and businesses on which seafood is a caught or farmed in environmentally responsible ways.  She directs all aspects of Science and Global Strategies, including external relationships and global capacity building with producers, governments, seafood business and NGOs.  This work has brought Wendy to over 20 countries over the past few years working to provide sustainable seafood information and creating collaborations and engagement on improving global seafood production practices that support both people and the environment.  Wendy has over 20 years of experience in marine science, aquaculture and fisheries science and working to co-design solutions throughout the seafood supply chain. Prior to joining Seafood Watch, Wendy was a Marine Conservation Science Research Professor at the University of Maine, studying the impacts of eco-certification on management decision-making and economic incentives for conservation.  Wendy also spent several years managing the New Zealand Department of Conservations’ fisheries observer program focused on identifying and managing country-wide bycatch research and co-designing bycatch reduction techniques with the fishing industry. She began her career as a field biologist designing and implementing subtidal habitat and species restoration programs, working on aquaculture research farms and studying benthic impacts caused from fishing activities.