The National Fisheries Institute (NFI) is planning a rebrand, which will involve changing its name to the National Seafood Association – a first since the organization’s founding,
NFI was founded in 1945, and for over 80 years has been advocating for the U.S. seafood industry. Throughout that time period, the organization’s areas of focus have gradually expanded from just U.S. fisheries to the wider supply chain, including things like aquaculture and processing.
“The whole reason why we’re changing the name is to be better advocates for our members,” NFI President and CEO Lisa Wallenda Picard told SeafoodSource.
NFI named Wallenda Picard its new president and CEO in 2022, and she said that the organization started a strategic plan and polled all of its members on what they wanted out of NFI.
“We polled the members – ‘it’s your association, we’re now 80 years old, what do you want us to do?’” Wallenda Picard said. “And it was overwhelmingly, ‘we need an advocate.’ Which makes sense; we don’t do marketing – SNP (Seafood Nutrition Partnership) is doing that. People like to ask ‘how come you’re not like the Got Milk people?’ Well, because we’re the advocacy organization, and we are the advocates from water to plate, everybody in between, and everybody who makes that journey possible.”
As its advocacy has evolved, the language around it has with it – which is a big reason for the name change, according to Wallenda Picard. The organization being called an “institute” often misleads people into thinking of a building, or a scientific organization, devoted to U.S. fisheries, rather than the more general advocacy that NFI actually performs.
“[NFI Executive Vice President & General Counsel of NFI Robert DeHaan] and I were speaking at an event in Japan, and we were in the elevator, and someone comes up and said ‘oh National Fisheries Institute, are you part of the government shutdown?’” Wallenda Picard said. “I said no, no we’re not. It highlights the confusion of where we fit into the seafood world, where we fit into the government world.”
While a misunderstanding over the name may seem like a small problem, for an advocacy organization like NFI understanding is the entirety of what they seek to accomplish when they approach policy makers or leaders with problems.
“When we are on the go, and we’re on the go almost every day, time is money, and our time is limited, and we want to use every moment to remind people what we’re about,” Wallenda Picard said.
She said a lot of the time, advocates with NFI will approach lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and have to go on a lengthy diatribe just to get them to understand what NFI is before they can begin the work of advocating for the seafood industry.
Getting to the new name of National Seafood Association took time, and Wallenda Picard said the organization went through an intense process and put a lot of time and thought into each aspect of it. She said NFI Chief Operating Officer Judy Dashiell played a huge part in making sure the process was open and included the organization’s members.
“We really wanted it to be an open process, this is the members association, what do the members feel is the best?” Wallenda Picard said.
Some of NFI’s current members have been involved with the organization for generations; the current chairman’s father was also at one point a chairman, Wallenda Picard said. That history is important, and was central to all activity surrounding the rebrand.
“We didn’t take the name change lightly,” Wallenda Picard said. “That’s where National Seafood Association came from.”
She said that every time it says the world “seafood,” it’s an opportunity for the association to remind people it is advocating to that that’s who it represents, and the new name gives people a few extra seconds “whether it’s us, or whether it’s any of our members explaining why the association is important, because it’s accurately reflecting what it does.”
It also takes into account the new companies and interests that NFI represents, such as aquaculture and processing, or other parts of the supply chain that are integral to seafood but aren’t related to fisheries.
Wallenda Picard said there was some initial apprehension to the rebrand, especially considering its 80-year history.
“You don’t just throw that out the window without some significant conversation,” Wallenda Picard said. “And we wanted to be respectful of what it had accomplished.”
Wallenda Picard said the logo – which hasn’t been revealed – will highlight some of that history, as will taglines. The rebrand also emphasizes the association’s role in science, education, and advocacy, she said.
“We had to have it spell SEA, of course,” she said.
Throughout the process, members were central to the decision making - including new members. Wallenda Picard said the association has attracted 27 new members so far in 2026, and wants to welcome more to build its advocacy efforts and ensure all parts of the industry are at the table.
“We have members who work in genetics, we have members who work in packaging, it’s everybody, and a rising tide does lift all boats when it comes to seafood,” Wallenda Picard said. “We want to make sure that all of our members are represented. To me, that diversity is our strength.”
