The global seafood economy is facing challenges on many levels, but it has confronted and successfully overcome significant difficulties in the past and can do so again.
That was the message of European Seafood Federation (AIPCEE) President Guus Pastoor during the opening of this year’s North Atlantic Seafood Fourm (NASF), taking place in Bergen, Norway. Kicking off the 15th edition of the seafood business conference, Pastoor acknowledged the insecurity brought by issues like Brexit, and the separate trade disputes ongoing between the United States and both China and the E.U. These are in addition to longer-term concerns like climate change, he said.
“We have Brexit, but we don’t have an agreement. So what’s going to happen with the trade; what’s going to happen to the fisheries? We don’t know,” he said. “Also, we don’t know what’s happening with the trade between the U.S. and China, and also with America and the E.U. Is there going to be a trade agreement or a trade war? We also have the potential economic impact of the coronavirus. All of these things are now on our mind.”
The onus is on the seafood industry to take the responsibility to navigate its way past these obstacles while also demonstrating to society and consumers that it can match their expectations in terms of sustainability, Pastoor said.
“We are living in some quite uncertain, even strange times. And we tend to think that’s something new,” he said. “But 15 years ago, many people were forecasting a total depletion of fish stocks as a result of overfishing. That didn’t happen, and it didn’t happen because many people took responsibility. We took actions and developed better ways to manage the fisheries. Of course, we still have some fisheries that are not OK, but the total depletion didn’t happen.”
Regarding climate change, Pastoor acknowledged that “many people are pessimistic” about the issue, that there are “many gloomy outlooks out there,” and also that seafood is “very vulnerable in this sense.” But he added that history had demonstrated the industry’s propensity to find people and ways to change things so that it can continue to produce the future volumes required.
“We have a common responsibility to find these solutions,” he said.
Even with the issues, Pastoor said, the seafood industry is well positioned to continue growing on into the future.
“Despite all of these issues, seafood has very great potential for further growth. We are not part of the problem, but we should be part of the solution. If produced in a sustainable manner – be that wild-catch, aquaculture, or new products coming from marine resources – seafood has some very positive scores that consumers should like,” he said. “And if we are looking at the global trend of meat consumption going down, that brings seafood into the spotlight.”
Low consumption numbers, as well, represent an opportunity for the industry throughout the E.U.
“We have a good story to tell the outside world and I think that’s our challenge because seafood consumption in the E.U. hasn’t really grown over the last years, despite significant financial growth,” Pastoor said. “This means that consumers have been prepared to pay more for their fish, which also means they have a preference for certain species if we can provide them in the right way.”
Photo by Jason Holland/SeafoodSource
