Megan Westmeyer

Ironically, Megan Westmeyer never liked seafood when she was younger. "My family ate a lot of frozen fish, like fish sticks. I hated them. I guess that's why I never liked fish very much."

It wasn't until she got her master's degree at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge that Westmeyer tasted and developed a love for fresh, local seafood that ultimately led to her job as coordinator for the Sustainable Seafood Initiative at the S.C. Aquarium.

Love for environment

Growing up in an outdoor-oriented family helped foster Westmeyer's love for the environment. She remembers frequent camping and hiking trips to the Great Smoky Mountains and Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

Westmeyer's mother, Diane, was the true outdoor aficionado of the family.

"My mom could never sit still on hiking trips. Even if it were pouring down rain, she'd still drag us all on her eight-mile hikes. I remember complaining a lot like any kid would, but at the end of the day, getting to the end was always worth it."

In addition to hiking, Westmeyer's family raised her on homegrown food. She remembers growing tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans in the backyard vegetable garden.

Now, instead of having her own garden in West Ashley, Westmeyer bought a farm share. Through a community-supported agriculture program, she receives a portion of a farmer's crops. This way, she can enjoy the fresh vegetables she loved growing up while supporting local produce.

Westmeyer still cans her own vegetables, too. "It's a lot easier than you might think," she says. "You just squish them into a jar with some salt sprinkled along the bottom, seal it and then throw it into a pot of boiling water to force all of the air out. And there you go — fresh vegetables for months."

In her spare time, she also makes trips to Johns Island to pick strawberries, blackberries, peaches and tomatoes.

Diving in

Always interested in science and math, Westmeyer decided in the eighth grade that she wanted to become a marine biologist. She worked on a project about ocean life and instantly was attracted. Westmeyer jokes, "At that point, I thought that it was all about the whales and dolphins."

Of course, she had a lot to learn: Marine science also was about the geology, biology, physics and chemistry of the oceans.

"I touched base in nearly all of these fields before I realized what I wanted to do."

After high school, Westmeyer attended the University of South Carolina for her bachelor's in marine science. It was during these four years she met her future husband, Jason Westmeyer, and her close friend, Sarah Mrozek.

Megan Westmeyer and Mrozek had many of the same classes together throughout college.

"I think Megan and I are such good friends because we both enjoy the simple pleasures in life: We love hiking, cooking or just sitting on the beach. It doesn't take much to make us happy," says Mrozek.

After her freshman year, Westmeyer traveled to Siberia with her marine geology professor and a few other USC students to study climate change by drilling sediment cores in Russia's 5,000-foot deep Lake Baikal. The trip broadened her worldview, but she realized she didn't want to "grind mud," as she called it, for the rest of her life.

She moved on to something new. After her sophomore year, she worked for the Student Conservation Association. For the entire summer, she stayed alone in a tiny cabin at Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina and studied sea turtle nesting.

The next year, Westmeyer decided to explore a different track, environmental toxicology. She later wrote her senior thesis on this subject.

During her senior year, she took a marine policy class about fisheries and management. This field captured her interest because she saw its real-world application and the opportunity to enlighten others to care about the environment.

"I was drawn in by the connection to conservation and people," she said. "I felt I could truly make a difference in others' lives."

Before heading to LSU for her master's, Westmeyer took a year off. For two months, she and Mrozek traveled around the United States in a Jeep Cherokee, camping and hiking in Washington state, the Grand Canyon and Texas.

After her trip, Westmeyer worked as a bycatch observer in the Gulf of Mexico. She worked with shrimpers, keeping track of extra species they caught in shrimp trawls, or nets.

The job helped her realize she wanted to be a scientist who interacted with fisheries, and she subsequently interned at the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council in Charleston.

Making a Difference

After graduate school, Westmeyer was recommended for the position of coordinator for the Sustainable Seafood Initiative by John Mark Dean, her marine policy professor at USC and one of SSI's founders.

She accepted and found herself back in Charleston — and she couldn't be happier.

"Charleston has a sense of place unlike anywhere else I've ever lived. I love the saltmarshes, the beaches and the forests."

In Westmeyer's words, sustainable seafood means "fish for the future." The SSI raises awareness concerning the amount of fish taken from the ocean and how fishing affects oceanic habitats.

Founded in 2002, SSI sponsors programs that teach chefs in Charleston restaurants about sustainable seafood, and the best choices to make for their menus.

The Initiative now has more than 80 partners, including The Boathouse, Carolina's and Fish restaurants. In the future, Westmeyer hopes to expand SSI's services to places outside Charleston.

It's Westmeyer's job to encourage chefs to buy their seafood locally. One of her favorite parts about her job is assessing a chef's menu and rating its sustainability. But what she loves most is seeing the results of her assessments.

Because of Westmeyer's efforts, many restaurants have removed endangered fish such as Chilean sea bass and orange roughy from their menus.

"I get so excited when I see a change that a chef has made to his menu," she says.

Westmeyer also speaks at SSI's dinner series. Once a month, a Charleston chef designs a menu composed entirely of sustainable seafood and serves it to the dinner's guests. The Upper King Street restaurant Fish will hold the next SSI dinner Tuesday.

Starting in September, the initiative will begin its progressive dinner series, which will feature a multicourse meal at different Charleston restaurants.

"I love my job," says Westmeyer. "I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing right now."