Imani Black

Imani Black was born in Chestertown in the state of Maryland in the year of 1994 (she's 28 currently). She was born in a family of fishermen that were tied to Chesapeake Bay, her family having been fishing there for 200+ years which is what encouraged her to join the maritime industry.  She went to marine science camp at age 7 where she learned hands on about sea-animals especially Crustaceans (crabs and lobsters) and mollusks (oysters and clams). She went to college in Old Dominion University where she learned Marine Biology (and did D1 lacrosse), She even interned for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. How i relate to Miss Imani is how she uses her knowledge for fish to feed her community, My Maternal half of family lived in the East coast in Honduras for 4 generation even in the US i ate Seafood especially Basa fish, soft-shell crab and shrimp often so I can respect and commend her for feeding her community with the natural seafood that's in the area. Why I chose Miss Black is because what she has done for the community is incredible and humongous as well for what her Actions relates with the Billion Oyster Project (BOP). She Earned a master's degree from University of Maryland's horn point, the 2022 John Eagerton prize winner, 2023 seafood industry climate award, 2024 environmental leader award, 2025 Maxwell/Hanrahan foundation award in food. While she uses oysters to feed people in the state of Maryland, The B.O.P in New York City will use oysters for a completely different but still beneficial use, that being Systemic ecosystem Restoration aka cleaning all the gunk out of the water. While Imani Black is a Young pioneer in a completely different state from ours i believe that due to the similar nature of her foundation’s and our project i believe she’s a perfect candidate for the Vessel Operation’s Black History month Board.