Seafish appoints its new Chief Executive Officer

Seafish is pleased to announce the appointment of Colin Faulkner as its new Chief Executive.

Colin will join Seafish on 12 January 2026. He is currently Head of International Fisheries and Seafood Trade Policy at Defra.

He will succeed Marcus Coleman, who leaves Seafish on 17 December after a decade in post.

Marcus will take up the role of Chief Executive of the Water Management Alliance and its Member Boards in January.

Seafish Chair Mike Sheldon said: “I am very pleased that we have been able to attract someone of such high calibre and industry knowledge as Colin Faulkner to join us as Seafish Chief Executive. We have known and worked successfully with Colin for many years and we look forward to continuing that to great effect in his new role.

“Colin has big shoes to fill as Marcus leaves us but the Board and I have every confidence in him. We thank Marcus for his 10 years of service at Seafish and wish him every success in his new role.”

Colin Faulkner said: “Joining Seafish feels like the start of an exciting new chapter, both for me and for the organisation. I can’t wait to get started on working with all parts of the seafood industry across the UK, and the whole team at Seafish, to take the organisation to new heights.”

Colin has been Head of International Fisheries and Seafood Trade Policy at Defra since 2018.  Between 2015 and 2018, he was Director of Government Affairs for the UK Green Investment Bank and Macquarie in EMEA.   Before that stint in the private sector, he worked across a wide variety of constitutional, environment and fisheries policy roles in the UK and Scottish Governments.