Longtime Southeastern Fisheries Association (SFA) Executive Director Bob Jones will be recognized at the organization’s annual meeting next month in St. Augustine, Fla., for 50 years of dedicated service.
Jones’ passion for fisheries and the seafood industry has had a major impact on commercial and recreational fisheries in the southeastern United States, as well as seafood companies and consumers throughout his home state of Florida.
“It goes by real quick,” Jones told SeafoodSource on Wednesday. “It’s something new almost every day. It’s a wonderful group of people to have worked with and served all these years.”
Jones, a native Floridian, served in the United States Marine Corps, graduated college at the age of 64, and has since written two books: “A Culture Worth Saving” and “Death at the Inlet.” He’ll turn 81 next month, but isn’t concerned with age: “The 80s of today are the 60s of yesterday. I can do just about everything, just maybe a little slower.”
Since 1964, Jones has headed the SFA and has certified more than 1,000 seafood firms as a certified HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) trainer.
Jones has been an outspoken proponent of traceability and economic integrity measures, educating consumers about species substitution and other forms of seafood fraud. When asked if he could see one permanent change for the seafood industry, he simply answered “science.”
“If we can ever get to the point were the government had real good solid estimates on how much [fish] is actually out there, that’s the one thing that would save us,” he said. “I know we can get there, but it’s difficult to move a big bureaucracy. I see some sunshine on the horizon and I want to be part of it.”
