After over 20 years as president of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association, Glenn Reed is retiring, with Coast Guard veteran Christopher Barrows named to fill the post.
PSPA officials said on July 22 that Barrows, a 25-year veteran of the Coast Guard, will bring to the association years of leadership and management experience, plus a significant background in ocean and fisheries policy. He will join PSPA on Aug. 15, and be based in Seattle, where he and his family relocated after his retirement from his final Coast Guard post in Naples, Italy.
Barrows said that he enjoyed his time with the Coast Guard patrolling the waters off of Alaska and in the North Pacific Ocean, as well as living in Juneau and traveling throughout Alaska to coordinate Coast Guard Activities, while developing lasting partnerships. Now, said Barrows, he is looking forward to the opportunity to address future challenges facing the industry and to help ensure the continued sustainable management of fisheries resources.
Reed’s extensive history in commercial fisheries dates back to the 1990s, when he served as deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Commerce and Economic Development during the administration of Gov. Wally Hickel from June 1992 through December 1994.
From April of 1997 to December of 1998, Reed was the executive director of the North Pacific Seafood Coalition. He joined PSPA as president in 1999.
Barrows has represented the Coast Guard at multiple international, national and regional fisheries organizations, including the North Pacific Anadromous Fisheries Commission, International Pacific Halibut Commission, North Pacific Fisheries Commission, US-Russia Intergovernmental Consultative Committee on Fisheries, US-Canada Bilateral meetings on Ocean and Fisheries, Southeast Alaska (USCG) – British Columbia (DFO, Canada) Maritime Enforcement Coordination Committee, North Pacific Coast Guard Forum, United Nations’ Consultative Process on the Oceans and the Law of the Sea, and United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
PSPA is a nonprofit trade association representing seafood processing companies on policy, regulatory and legislative issues since 1914. Its corporate members are nine major shoreside and mothership seafood processing companies with operations in Alaska and Washington state, who purchase, process and market millions of pounds of seafood from nearly every gear type in Alaska, including wild Alaska salmon, Alaska Pollock, Pacific cod, crab, halibut, rockfish and more. Member companies purchase fish from harvesters and contribute millions of dollars in tax revenue to state and local economies in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
