Seattle to host record number of seafood sustainability experts for upcoming conference

This year’s SeaWeb Seafood Summit – to be held in Seattle, Washington from 5 to 7 June – will feature the voices of 155 experts in the sustainability space, a new record for the event, according to organizing partners Diversified Communications and SeaWeb. 

Between the summit’s 32 full-length educational sessions and its 16 lightning-round briefs – a new additional to this year’s program – conference attendees will be able to comprehensively reflect on 20 years of the sustainable seafood movement with some of its biggest movers and shakers. A handful of sessions will address the early years of seafood sustainability, “reviewing through various perspectives what the movement has accomplished over the past two decades and what challenges lie ahead,” according to Diversified. 

The summit will officially kick off on 5 June with a keynote address exploring the role larger retailers play in the sustainable seafood movement, followed by an expert plenary panel seeking answers to some of the movement’s most pressing questions, including "What has really changed? Where has the movement fallen short? And given what we know now, what should the next big initiative be?"

The first day of the conference will also tackle another 20-year-long conversation — this one on aquaculture and its impact on the world’s fish supply, a topic that was first brought to light in a 1997 Nature article, and later rehashed during a 2007 SeaWeb Seafood Summit plenary panel. Two 6 June breakout sessions will also address this topic: one on how to innovate the shrimp aquaculture supply chain for a sustainable future, and another on the opportunities and challenges involved in creating more sustainable Chinese fisheries and aquaculture.   

Pre-competitive collaboration will be the focus of the pre-conference workshop on 4 June, and be highlighted in five sessions throughout the Summit, including one built around the successful case study of GSI – a leadership group uniting over 50 percent of the global farmed salmon sector – and another exploring how Alaska pollock fishermen and processors are using technology, innovation and collaboration to provide new solutions in pre- and post-harvest sustainability.  

Other summit topics include plastics pollution, food security, third-party traceability providers and business-to-consumer seafood marketing. New data on public perceptions of seafood will also be shared in Seattle during the conference. 

The first day of the conference will wrap up with the Seafood Champion Awards reception at Chihuly Garden and Glass (sponsored by ASMI), recognizing individuals and companies that have made outstanding contributions to the sustainable seafood movement. Winners will be named in each of four categories: Leadership, Innovation, Vision and Advocacy.

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