The 2022 Seafood Expo North America, which took place 13 to 15, March in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., and the 2022 Seafood Expo Global, 26 to 28 April, 2022, in Barcelona, Spain, featured a comprehensive conference program of live panel events focusing on topics chosen to be of vital interest to the seafood industry.
The 28 individual presentations from SENA and the 21 sessions from SEG featured exclusive information and insight from seafood industry experts, including economic forecasts and analysis on the trends and topics impacting the global seafood industry as it navigates issues of trade, food safety, traceability, aquaculture, sustainability, and consumption trends. Now, a video recording of each of these sessions is available for on-demand replay.
Featuring ThinkAqua CEO Anton Immink, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Program Director Dave Martin, and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Improver Program Global Lead Roy Van Daatselaar, “Integration of Seafood Certification: Scaling Improvements in Aquaculture” is available free for SeafoodSource Premium members, or for individual purchase to non-Premium members for USD 40. It was presented on Monday, 14 March, with the following description:
Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) have become an instrumental tool for fisheries sustainability over the past decade. While improvements in aquaculture are just as critical as in fisheries, Aquaculture Improvement Projects (AIPs) are far less developed than their FIP cousins and have yet to gain traction in the marketplace. At the same time, awareness is growing on the historic and current environmental impacts of aquaculture production, particularly on critical habitats such as mangroves. As aquaculture production increases globally, opportunities exist to both scale-up responsible production while also preserving the biodiversity and climate benefits gained through restoring critical habitats. Three of the leading organizations in responsible aquaculture – the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch – are teaming up in an effort to streamline the path to sustainability for aquaculture producers, engaging more stakeholders in the process, and delivering improvements in farming practices and management that will protect those essential functions gained through restoring critical habitats. Farmers engaged in improvement program pilots are supported through partnerships with local consultants and supply chain partners. These pilots provide farmer support and capacity building at a greater scale by engaging farmers that have common practices and challenges in a shared region. In some instances, barriers to information requirements can be alleviated through the use of remote monitoring technology and shared impact assessment studies. This allows project partner organizations the opportunity to reduce the burdens and confusion of information needs to farmers and cater trainings and improvements to the farmer needs and at the scales at which they operate.
Together, these organizations will convene a diverse group of industry and other stakeholders to:
- Discuss the importance of aquaculture improvement in relation to assured supply of sustainable seafood;
- Explore how landscape level improvements can facilitate farm-level certification (and vice versa);
- Highlight opportunities to protect and restore critical habitats and maintain responsible farming practices; and
- Share some early lessons learned and opportunities for engagement in pilot aquaculture improvement projects underway.
The entire package of videos from SENA and the entire package of videos from SEG can each be purchased for USD 250, but all are free to SeafoodSource Premium members.
