UK trade body Seafish has announced the appointment of Colin Faulkner as its new chief executive.

Faulkner is currently Head of International Fisheries and Seafood Trade Policy at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), where he has been since 2018, and will join Seafish on 12th January 2026.

Between 2015 and 2018, Faulkner was director of Government Affairs for the UK Green Investment Bank and Macquarie in EMEA. Before that, he worked across a wide variety of constitutional, environment and fisheries policy roles in the UK and Scottish Governments.  

He will succeed Marcus Coleman, who will leave the trade body on 11th December after 10 years in post. Coleman will take up the role of chief executive of the Water Management Alliance and its member boards in January.

Seafish chair Mike Sheldon commented: “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.”