Where we begin this "Journey of the Waterman" was with an idea at the most elemental level. Align two communities - Aquaculture and the Surf Community. A group at odds since nearly the inception of Marine Based Aquaculture. But with the power to change perception if educated.
In 2017, the search for the champion began in earnest. I interviewed nearly a dozen surfers both male and female in search of the person whose values, life cycle and sense of adventure would align with the mission to champion aquaculture in this most influential community. I was looking for someone that wanted to engage in more than just a sticker on the surf. Jamie Mitchell checked all of the boxes. He was a true champion with over 10 world champion paddle boarding titles and a winning surfer on the current World Surf League Big Wave Tour. He is also a family man, with a new wife and two young daughters.
Once we had several discussions with Jamie, he agreed to come on this journey with us. The earliest reference that I can find to the present day wording for the best phrase to describe our journey is in Samuel Purchas's Pilgrimage, 1613: "The Arabians out of the deserts are as Fishes out of the Water." Jamie, was on his way to Patagonia and was literally a fish out of water. By the time we were on the boat, we realized some important things. Jamie had NO idea what he had signed on for. Even with all of our preparation he really had signed on to this for simply "The sticker on the board". He faced protest, social media outrage and threatened to leave us. But once he got to the farm, everything began to change. His journey continued to Pacifico Aquaculture and to Pipe masters in Honolulu.
He realized that he had to embrace the journey and find the impacts for himself. The water that surrounded him also began to soften his skin, both literally and figuratively. At each farm he visited, listening, learning and keeping his eyes wide open. He tasted the feed, toured the hatcheries, the farms, processing plants interviewing farmers and absorbing the entire journey.Jamie saw the entire ecosystem. He did countless interviews in his nearly 3 weeks on the farms and in the region speaking with workers, farmers and others in the industry. What role did it play and how could things improve. He called friends in the surf community, vetting the entire process and confirming that he had not has the wool pulled over his eyes in any way.
We are all trapped in our own way of thinking. Trapped in our own way of relating to what we think we know. He had gotten used to seeing the ocean in his own way and it had become one dimensional. His views have changed on this journey. It has made him more deeply aware of the fact that the ocean healed him as a child, his constant companion as he traveled the world that had served him as his passion and career needed his help and aquaculture was a solution. If nature sustains itself through a continuous give-and-take process and human interaction with nature throughout history has been mostly taking then it is time for that relationship to evolve. He believed that sustainable aquaculture can bring balance and that his voice could bring meaningful change.
Jamie's voice proved to be powerful. To date, the film has had over 1.2 million views and the campaign has had over 40 million impressions. We did a series of premieres, lectures with Quicksilver and much more. We learned that there was a lot of misinformation within this group but that as active ocean lovers, they were easy to convince when given the correct facts through the voice of someone they admired so much. It was a successful campaign that gave us an understanding of how to begin a delicate dialogue and bring a solution based dialogue to the forefront.