Brixham, United Kingdom-based company Offshore Shellfish Ltd. is welcoming Huw Thomas as its new general manager, an addition that will “steer the next stage of development,” the firm told SeafoodSource.
Thomas also confirmed his departure from Pew after two years in an email.
Thomas most recently worked at the Pew Charitable Trusts, where he served as a senior officer for the Ending Illegal Fishing campaign. Before that, Thomas acted as the senior corporate services manager for fisheries and aquaculture for Morrisons, one of the largest supermarket chains in the United Kingdom.
In an email announcing his departure from Pew, Thomas stressed that “Pew will continue to educate on IUU and other ocean related conservation policies,” in his absence, with Courtney Farthing “picking up the mantle” while the organization recruits for his vacant position.
“I have enjoyed meeting you all in the last 2 years with Pew,” Thomas wrote in his farewell correspondence.
Offshore Shellfish Managing Director John Holmyard believes Thomas’ insights could help catapult his fast-growing company into a world class operation.
“We are delighted to welcome Huw to the company and look forward to working with him to steer the next stage of development,” Holmyard said. “We have grown fast over the past couple of years, expanding the production of mussels in line with the terms of our Crown Estate lease, increasing sales volumes, and growing the workforce. Huw’s insight into the wider seafood industry will be of great help in making Offshore Shellfish a world class company.”
Thomas said going to work for Offshore Shellfish will allow him to explore a long-held interest.
“Shellfish has been a major interest of mine since I started in the seafood industry in the mid 1990s,” Thomas said. “Being able to return to that sector of the industry and work in a company that farms some of the most sustainable seafood in the world is a natural progression of my career. I look forward to helping the founders, John and Nicki Holmyard, to achieve their ambitious plans to expand the production of farmed mussels in the U.K.”
Three years of sea trials have been completed by Offshore Shellfish, a series that has “shown that production of rope grown mussels in a fully offshore marine environment is highly achievable, despite the many challenges the location brings,” the company said.
Earlier this year, Offshore Shellfish added a purpose-built harvesting vessel, the Holly Mai, to its assets, effectively allowing the company to harvest up to 50 metric tons at a time.
