Alfred "Bubba" Cook has spent a lifetime on the ocean and the last 22 years working in fisheries conservation and management. At age 18, he joined the United States Navy's Nuclear Power Program, which took him around the world and sparked an interest in global affairs and, especially, international fisheries. Troubled by fishery declines he observed at home and abroad, he sought out an education focused on fisheries policy and law. In 2000, he received a B.S. degree in Fisheries and Aquaculture from Texas A&M University followed in 2003 by a J.D. with a certificate in Natural Resource Policy and Environmental Law from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, making him well suited to take on complex policy initiatives in large-scale fisheries. After law school, he was hired by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service in Alaska where he led a dedicated team in the implementation of one of the world’s most complex and effective fishery management program for the North Pacific crab fishery made famous by the TV show "Deadliest Catch." He later joined the World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF's) Arctic Program to support fisheries conservation and management efforts across the Bering Sea from the Russian Far East to Alaska's remote indigenous communities. In 2010, he joined the U.S. Peace Corps and served in Wailevu Village in Vanua Levu, Fiji, where he supported several grassroots marine conservation projects over two years. From 2012-2024, he served as the Western and Central Pacific Tuna Program Manager for WWF out of Suva, Fiji, and Wellington, New Zealand, where he served an important role in securing human rights at sea through championing and securing passage of a regulatory measure to ensure the safety and security of fisheries observers in 2016, which served as a catalyst for an additional regulatory measure addressing the welfare of fishing crew serving on fishing vessels in 2024. In 2025, he took a role with Sharks Pacific as their Policy Director, supporting shark conservation at a national and regional level through policy improvements, market tools, and technological innovation.