Colles Stowell, Founder, President
The passion was born with the sight of my first big fish being hauled on board a charter boat off the Louisiana coast. The Jack Crevalle was almost as big as the dazed and somewhat seasick five-year-old I was.
The door opened, seeding a lifetime of recreational fishing: from my childhood patrolling the bayous in ancient wooden skiffs to cruising small N.H. lakes and rivers in an aluminum canoe, and from wading small trout streams in Northern N.H. to world-class salmon rivers in Canada and bonefish flats in the Bahamas.
It’s in my blood.
Along the way, I discovered two other deep passions. The first was fresh, local seafood, which was abundant year-round in my hometown of New Orleans. The other was writing. Ten years of journalism, including a variety of writing for The Boston Globe, United Press International and New Hampshire Public Radio preceded 10 years of technology writing for a high tech PR firm with some Fortune 500 clients.
I began writing about sustainable fisheries and sustainable seafood in 2011 after seeing once abundant species like Atlantic salmon and Atlantic cod pushed to the point of collapse. Since then, I’ve delved into issues ranging from privatization of our oceans to the devastating impact the proposed Pebble Mine would have on the world’s largest wild salmon run, located in Bristol Bay, Alaska.
Starting this foundation is the confluence of my career and personal passions. My deep-seated interest in fisheries and in striking the right balance to support well-managed fisheries, transparent, local seafood systems, and healthy oceans for future generations drives One Fish Foundation.
That energy sparks the interactive classroom discussions and blogs that convey the message that we need to work together to find better management solutions locally, nationally and internationally, and that we need to find better ways to adapt to climate impacts on our oceans. Educating students and their parents about their relationship to seafood as a resource is perhaps the best way to ensure we take care of that resource so it can sustain us.
Mara Welton, Operations Manager
As a Colorado native, I spent most of my adolescence in my landlocked home state, and had my culinary world blown wide open on a camping trip with my dad when I was 12 years old. He taught me to fish that trip and we caught, gutted and cooked over a fire two rainbow trout – this most unexpectedly delicious thing I experienced imprinted a core memory on just how incredible wild caught fish could be. Fast forward a dozen more years to my Peace Corps service in the island nation of the Solomon Islands. As a Piscean, I finally understood why the ocean matters. In each village I served, I lived amongst subsistence fishers and learned what pristine, perfect seafood tasted like. It was here I first ate raw tuna, speared my first freshwater prawns and understood why we should care where our seafood comes from.
In my 20+ subsequent years as a veggie farmer and Slow Food leader, I worked with chefs in my new home of Vermont – the only landlocked New England state – and saw them searching for the best seafood they could possibly source, and this is where I learned of Slow Fish and participated in my first KNOW FISH Dinner. Connecting the dots between chefs, fishers and eaters is exactly what I did as a farmer: connecting farmers market customers and chefs alike to rare and interesting varieties, encouraging them to expand their palates and gardens to embrace new flavors and cultivars to their lives.
I have had the opportunity to help plan many Slow Fish events over the years and participate in developing the Rising Tide program. I count this amongst the most important work I can be connected with – facilitating opportunities for chefs, fishers and eaters to connect with each other and the seafood they choose to eat, ensuring that we are all aligned in how we choose to be engaged with our waters, the stewards and the food harvested from it.
Mara Welton, Operations Manager
As a Colorado native, I spent most of my adolescence in my landlocked home state, and had my culinary world blown wide open on a camping trip with my dad when I was 12 years old. He taught me to fish that trip and we caught, gutted and cooked over a fire two rainbow trout – this most unexpectedly delicious thing I experienced imprinted a core memory on just how incredible wild caught fish could be. Fast forward a dozen more years to my Peace Corps service in the island nation of the Solomon Islands. As a Piscean, I finally understood why the ocean matters. In each village I served, I lived amongst subsistence fishers and learned what pristine, perfect seafood tasted like. It was here I first ate raw tuna, speared my first freshwater prawns and understood why we should care where our seafood comes from.
In my 20+ subsequent years as a veggie farmer and Slow Food leader, I worked with chefs in my new home of Vermont – the only landlocked New England state – and saw them searching for the best seafood they could possibly source, and this is where I learned of Slow Fish and participated in my first KNOW FISH Dinner. Connecting the dots between chefs, fishers and eaters is exactly what I did as a farmer: connecting farmers market customers and chefs alike to rare and interesting varieties, encouraging them to expand their palates and gardens to embrace new flavors and cultivars to their lives.
I have had the opportunity to help plan many Slow Fish events over the years and participate in developing the Rising Tide program. I count this amongst the most important work I can be connected with – facilitating opportunities for chefs, fishers and eaters to connect with each other and the seafood they choose to eat, ensuring that we are all aligned in how we choose to be engaged with our waters, the stewards and the food harvested from it.
Jennifer Halstead, Communications Manager
For as long as I can remember, the ocean has been my favorite place. The dynamics of the ocean, from roaring waves to calm waters, have always called to my soul. For a long time, it was just a place to visit. As I got older, I saw the damage we were doing to our planet, and often the ocean was forgotten in those conversations. When I embarked on my college journey, I knew the environment would be the focus, and I ended up diving deep into the ocean.
Throughout my studies, I completed several marine-centered research projects, with a lot of focus on ocean acidification and climate change, and worked in a water quality lab in NH. It was my time at Shoals Marine Lab on Appledore Island, ME where I fell in love with fish. After a two-week intensive course filled with fishing trips and guest lectures from local fishermen (and Colles and One Fish Foundation!), I shifted my focus from marine biology to sustainable fisheries, and I haven’t looked back.
A couple of weeks after my time at Shoals, I emailed Colles to see if I could intern, and the rest is One Fish-tory!
