The Conch Podcast features interviews

with the most inspiring women in the world of seafood.

Join Julie Kuchepatov,

founder of Seafood and Gender Equality (SAGE),

as she interviews women striving

to succeed in the sector, as well as those already making an impact,

and the challenges they face -

all while working to improve

the environmental and social responsibility

of the planet’s most incredible food source - seafood!


 
 

How does the seafood industry benefit from injustices happening in the sector? How can we address these injustices so that everyone can benefit? In this double episode of the Conch Podcast, we learn how one person is challenging their privilege through self reflection and illuminating the roots of injustice—racism, classism, and colonialism—in the sector.

Julie is joined by Crystal Sanders-Alvarado, a fisheries scientist, the audio engineer for the Conch Podcast, and the Founder and Captain of Seaworthy, a socio-environmental equity building organization rooted in radical scholarship.

Episode Transcript

Episode Guide

  • :00 Intro to Part One of our conversation

  • 03:00 Wearing a lot of hats, Crystal has worked for years in both the seafood and the music industries.

  • 5:02 Crystal’s love of fishing and the ocean stems from time with her grandfather in a small, coastal fishing town in Texas.

  • 8:06 Academia isn’t just about reading and tests; it can also be about learning skills like how to camp and drive a boat.

  • 9:52 A day in the life of a fisheries scientist in the Gulf of Mexico.

  • 11:08 Crystal is obsessed with otoliths (ear bones in fish).

  • 12:23 Add “attending the Shrimporee in Aransas Pass, Texas” to your bucket list!

  • 13:38 As a fisheries scientist working for the government, Crystal had to earn the trust of fishermen. To do that, she put down her scale and went fishing.

  • 18:12 A desire to better help struggling fishing communities and a love for music leads Crystal to pack her bags and move to the Bay Area. 

  • 21:21 Crystal’s company, Seaworthy, melds her love of the ocean, fish, and music,  designing immersive experiences using the creative mediums of sound and food.

  • 26:46 None of us are free until we're all free, just as Black women have been saying for centuries.

Resources: 

  1. Part Two (Episode 10) of our conversation with Crystal

  2. Learn more about Crystal’s company, Seaworthy, on their website: Seaworthyexperiences.com

  3. Make sure to recommend this episode to anyone you think might care about the future of our ocean and women working in the sector. 

The Conch Podcast series is a program of Seafood and Gender Equality (SAGE) and made possible by generous funding from The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Audio production, engineering, editing, mixing, and sound design by Crystal Sanders-Alvarado for Seaworthy. Original music provided by Satan’s Pilgrims.


The Conch Podcast is a program of Seafood and Gender Equality (SAGE).

Audio production, engineering, editing, mixing, and sound design by Crystal Sanders-Alvarado for Seaworthy.

Theme music: “Dilation” by Satan's Pilgrims

 Funding generously provided by