Profiles

Sally Eason

Sally Eason is the owner of Sunburst Trout Company in Canton, North Carolina. Founded by Ms. Eason’s father in 1948, the company markets and ships 10,000 pounds of trout nationwide each week. It sells to distributors, seafood brokers, upscale restaurants, and grocery store chains and has maintained a commitment to providing environmentally sustainable seafood for more than five decades.

What is your favorite seafood to eat?
I have to say trout, clearly, because that is what I do.

How did you get interested in the issue of sustainable seafood?
I’ve always been interested in sustaining anything that belongs to our environment. My parents were that way long before it was avant-garde to be that way, so I was raised to think along those lines. And I have a business that makes it easy to go along with the idea of sustainable foods. I have always lived in an agricultural area, so being environmentally aware is in the foreground for those living around me. If we all don’t get on this bandwagon, eventually we’ll have nothing to eat. Not in our lifetimes, but maybe in our grandchildren’s.

How would you describe your philosophy on ocean conservation?
I believe that everyone involved in the aquacultural industry worldwide needs to be more responsible, both personally and corporately.

Does your philosophy change what fish you distribute?
No, it hasn’t. Because, as I said, we were on the bandwagon before it was cool to be on the bandwagon.

Have your customers worked with you on selling sustainable seafood?
For the most part yes, as much as we can have control over such a thing. One customer, for example, is Whole Foods Market, which has been a great customer for more than seven years. They are very committed to sustainable foods, not just aquaculture but also with produce and everything that they do. They are the type of customer that we enjoy doing business with. If you are into sustainable foods and their production, then you know it’s apt to cost more money than feeding people in other ways. So we have to look for customers who will partner with us. We have to charge more money to do what we do, so we have to find customers who are willing to do that based upon their principles.

Do you feel it limits you on what you can offer your customers?
It does. However, I find there are more and more people each year who subscribe to the same philosophy. And I think that as the global consciousness shifts, people will realize that we will have to pay more money to get the foods that are not stealing constantly from our lands and our waters. It will be gradual, but we are going to have to shift our mindset to be more responsible.

Why do you subscribe to Seafood Choices?
I had the opportunity to meet several of the Seafood Choice Alliance staff, none of whom I knew before. I loved their philosophy and what they were about. I read their materials, and I like everything they are trying to do. I think it’s a worthwhile effort to be a part of.

Posted January 15, 2006