You can access our 2011 annual report here.
To all the generous supporters of our Foundation:
2011 was a year of tremendous growth and maturation for ICOF. Early in the year we took the important step of hiring a part time Executive Director, Michelle Conway, to assist us in the necessary upkeep, planning, and strategy to further the efforts of our Foundation. In 2011, we also received our Certificate of Non Profit Status from the Department of Revenue.
In March, Shore Gregory and I had the opportunity to travel to Haiti to see firsthand the amazing work of Dr. Valentin Abe and his program, Caribbean Harvest. After an amazing five days, we came back committed to creating an event to raise money and awareness for the life changing work Dr. Abe is undertaking.
We came back energized and ready to expand Oyster Festival weekend with a Friday night fundraiser we called Friends for Haiti. We were able to raise $100,000 for Caribbean Harvest, which resulted in the net increase of tilapia production in Haiti of 40,000 pounds between November of 2012 and February of 2013. Saturday night’s Oyster Festival was our most successful yet, with over 3,000 people coming out to support our efforts, allowing us to raise over $100,000 more for our aquaculture projects.
In 2011, we continued to fund the development of a hatchery in Zanzibar through Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and are pleased with the progress of this challenging endeavor. The hatchery has been constructed and is now successfully spawning shellfish. We anticipate seed distribution to farmers in the summer of 2012 and look forward to watching this project improve the lives of the 42 women-farmers and their families.
Two big changes came to the Foundation in the 4th quarter of 2011. The first is we decided to retire Oyster Festival. It was a bittersweet decision, but one we had to make, it became a victim of its own success, and a monster to execute each year. We knew there was more great work for the Foundation to do, and walking away from Oyster Festival allowed us to focus on that work. The second major change of 2011 was taking the time after Oyster Festival to intensely focus on what exactly we want this Foundation to do going forward. I’m really happy with what we’ve settled on, and believe the best work of the Foundation is yet to come.
As we move forward in the years ahead, I hope we can help make aquaculture a part of the solution around the global issue of food production. There isn’t a better way to generate sustainable protein that has a low environmental impact and is readily available. It isn’t the only solution, but it is part of the solution, and I hope you can join us in our effort to raise awareness, educate, and fund projects that support global aquaculture.
Our tagline has become very simple, we believe in aquaculture.
Sincerely,
Skip Bennett
Owner, Island Creek Oysters
You can access our 2011 annual report here.
