The Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) has announced details of its upcoming Wild Alaska Pollock Annual Meeting, set to be held on 18 September in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.
GAPP CEO Craig Morris said that Aquamar CEO Daryl Gormley will headline the meeting and that the results of two major studies concerning the Alaska pollock fishery's economic impact will be shared at the event.
Under the leadership of Gormley, Rancho Cucamonga, California, U.S.A.-headquartered Aquamar has expanded from a processor historically focused on surimi into one which produces a wide variety of convenience seafood products.
At Seafood Expo North America 2025, Gormley told SeafoodSource that his company was drawing on the lessons of the surimi market to strategically grow.
“We will always be proud of our surimi heritage, but we also recognize that like surimi, there’s a convenience opportunity with seafood,” Gormley said. “We’ve talked to thousands of consumers in North America to understand their relationship with seafood, and what we’ve come to learn is that people want to eat more seafood; they just don’t like to prepare it."
Morris said he looked forward to Gormley's insights into both the surimi and broader convenience markets.
“We’ve seen trends like surimi seafood ‘crab’ boil mukbang and cucumber surimi seafood salad go viral this year and drive huge awareness and consumption of Alaska pollock surimi seafood here in the U.S.,” Morris said. “No one has capitalized on those trends in surimi seafood more than Aquamar, and their proprietary insights into the future of surimi – and seafood – consumption are stellar. I know that Daryl is going to push our audience to think differently about surimi seafood sales and marketing.”
Gormley’s leadership experience at other food companies, such as Sara Lee, Kraft, and Frito-Lay, among other major firms, is also expected to elicit unique insights, according to Morris.
“I’ve long felt there are a lot of lessons that the seafood industry can take from other commodities, and I’m eager to hear Daryl’s take on the industry and what he’s picked up throughout his distinguished career,” Morris said.
GAPP also said that it would be sharing the results of two major studies regarding the economic impact of Alaska's pollock industry at the meeting. The studies, conducted by McKinley Research and Northern Economics, are intended to address a gap in data around the fishery’s contributions to Alaska’s economy.
“We know that the Alaska pollock fishery is the largest certified sustainable fishery in the world and makes significant contributions to Alaska in terms of jobs, tax revenue, direct and indirect spending, and to the infrastructure in communities across the state," Morris said. "Until now, we haven’t been able to measure that impact that’s unique to Alaska pollock specifically. This data is important for us to be able to better tell our story throughout Alaska and beyond and recognize the fishery as a true part of the fabric of Alaska.”
GAPP pointed out that while the Northern Economics study takes a traditional approach to the fishery’s economic impact, the McKinley study is intended to describe the value of the fishery with more nuance.
The latter study was designed, GAPP said, “to measure the impact of a ‘world without Alaska pollock’ when it comes to infrastructure, particularly the impact that would be felt on freight, shipping, processing plants, and other pieces of Alaskan infrastructure if there were not a U.S. Alaska pollock fishery.”
“The Alaska Pollock Fishery Alliance Steering Committee and GAPP Board felt that for too long we have lacked the specificity of our exact contributions in the State of Alaska and those needed to be comprehensively studied,” Morris said.
GAPP said that other highlights of the event would include a trade update by GAPP Director of Industry Relations, Partnerships, and Fishery Analysis Ron Rogness, presentations on both domestic and global GAPP partner projects, and an announcement on the next class of GAPP partners.
