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SeafoodSource is proud to continue its long legacy of producing its Top 25 North American Seafood Suppliers with Volume 4, its 2018 edition.

Check out this year’s list to see who moved up, who dropped down, and who held steady. And this year’s version includes more in-depth information on all the news affecting the continent’s biggest seafood players, as well as exclusive interviews with C-level executives for three Top 25 firms.

Speakers: Citlalia Gomez Lepe, President – COMEPESCA; Alvaro de Tomas, MsC - Truchas Sustentables; Bill Hoenig, Market Development Manager - South America - Best Aquaculture Practices; Pablo Konietzko, Director General - Earth Ocean Farms; Mauricio Orellana, Managing Director - Orca Seafoods

Session Description: This panel discusses the opportunities for seafood sustainability in Mexico from the perspective of experts in different fields and sectors: fisheries and aquaculture, export and national markets, FIPs and eco-certifications, alliances and partnerships – all elements needed for building and moving forward a Sustainable Seafood Movement in Mexico under a challenging political, social, environmental and economic scenario.

Speakers: Peter Quinter, Chair, U.S. Customs and International Trade Law Group - GrayRobinson, P.A.; Benjamin England, CEO & Founder of FDAImports.com, LLC - FDAImports.com, LLC

Session Description: Learn what is happening at FDA and how the Agency is managing seafood safety programs during the pandemic. What is changing with the Administration change? What should you expect? How is Customs looking at fraud? What about these recent WROs? What matters most? How do you document compliance? Ben England and Peter Quinter, both with former federal experience, lay out what you should be worried about and what you should be doing to protect your essential business.

Speakers: Sarah Hogan, Program Officer - David & Lucile Packard Foundation; Teresa Ish, Senior Program Officer, Environment Program - Walton Family Foundation; Eduard Müller, President - University for International Cooperation in Costa Rica; Per Olsson, Researcher - Stockholm Resilience Centre; Steve Waddell, Lead – Bounce Beyond

Session Description: “COVID-19 has been a fire-drill to test the resilience of our systems” according to Eduard Muller, President of the University for International Cooperation. The last year has brought a renewed focus on the resilience and transformation of everything from supply chains to economic systems to technology and networks. But years of research before COVID-19 has greatly improved our understanding of resilience and processes of transformation. This session’s panel is made up of three experts in the field who share their understanding of what makes systems resilient and how the seafood industry can better prepare their systems for future disruption and opportunity.

Speakers: Sophika Kostyniuk, Director, Fisheries & Seafood - Ocean Wise Conservation Association; Joseph Chiaravalloti, Director, Product - Seacore Seafood Inc.; David Lancaster, President - Stavis Seafoods, LLC; Shevis Shima, Senior Vice President - Sales/Procurement - Santa Monica Seafood; Mary Smith, Director of Sustainability - Inland Seafood

Session Description: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought monumental challenges to the seafood industry. The seafood supply chain has dealt with inconsistent access to product, border shutdowns, travel restrictions and reduction in staff sizes leading to limited production rates. These challenges have been coupled with restaurant closures across North America greatly diminishing seafood orders for some suppliers, while some retailers are experiencing a mass increase in seafood demand fueling a boost in sales for suppliers able to meet the demand. Previously accessible lucrative international markets were put beyond reach, while in some cases poorly developed local supply chains struggled to make up the difference during this challenging time.

The long-term economic impacts of the pandemic are yet to be fully realized; however, many businesses in the seafood and food services industry have quickly adapted to new business channels. Suppliers and distributors are shifting from traditional B2B operations to direct B2C channels to fill the gap of reduced restaurant orders and capitalize on increasing interest in consumers cooking seafood at home. Meanwhile, restaurants have developed take-home friendly menus in freeze-able and ready-to-serve formats in response to the drop in dine-in customers.

While prioritizing economic sustainability is vital to ensure to survival, it is also important to prioritize responsibly sourced seafood to ensure access to these resources for generations to come. Sea Pact teams up with the Ocean Wise Seafood program in leading a panel exploring the challenges of economic, social and environmental sustainability throughout COVID-19. This panel highlight sustainable seafood success stories and challenges during the pandemic and demonstrate how proper adaptability aligned with sustainable sourcing can help businesses navigate these uncertain waters and evolve industry approaches post-pandemic.

Sea Pact represents key industry leaders promoting access to sustainable seafood options that have made commitments to supporting research and development to continue to build on sustainable forms of seafood production and harvesting. The Ocean Wise Seafood program is Canada’s leading seafood sustainability program. Ocean Wise Seafood works directly with key actors within the seafood supply chain to make access to sustainable seafood simple and ensure sourcing information is readily available to all partners of this program and the wider public.

Speaker: Chris Coulter, CEO – GlobeScan; Marife Casem, Senior Manager, Sustainability – Walmart; Logan Soraci, Brand Manager - Brand Development Frozen Prepared Seafood - Conagra Brands; Kristen Stevens, Senior Marketing Manager - Marine Stewardship Council, USA

Session Description: Before COVID began to have an impact on the global health of people and economies, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) gained a good understanding of the conscious seafood consumer– or those who prioritize sustainability in their shopping habits – through GlobeScan consumer surveys, and an understanding of how to reach them, and their motivations for buying seafood. Early 2020 survey results showed that people are increasingly concerned about ocean health and the impacts of pollution, overfishing, and climate change. We learned that choosing sustainably sourced seafood rose in importance as a purchase motivator among seafood shoppers in the last two years, and that consumers are taking actions to help the ocean and are willing to do more for a sustainable future.

Speakers: Kate Naughten, Director of Communications - NOAA Fisheries; Alexa Cole, Director, Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection - NOAA Fisheries; Paul Doremus, Acting Assistant Administrator - NOAA Fisheries

Session Description: 2020 was an unprecedented year for the U.S. seafood sector due to the impacts of COVID-19. Fishermen, growers, processors, and the broader seafood sector nationally suffered revenue losses and market and trade disruptions, and scrambled to pivot to new markets. In this session, NOAA officials examine key issues, policies, impacts, and advancements critical to building a more resilient U.S. seafood sector—both fished and farmed—and how rebuilding will continue to play out in 2021 and beyond. NOAA officials also discuss new opportunities for U.S. aquaculture in 2021 and new, federally led efforts to combat Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported fishing.

Speakers: Steven Hedlund, Communications & Events Manager - Global Aquaculture Alliance; Greg Brown, SVP, Operations and Strategic Development - Global Aquaculture Alliance; Efrain Calderon, Head of Certification Assurance Team - Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC); Antonio Hervás, Program Manager for the MSC Accreditation Program – ASI; Libby Woodhatch, Executive Chair - MarinTrust

Session Description: It’s been just over a year since COVID-19 forced seafood certification programs to rethink how audits are conducted. With pandemic-inflicted travel restrictions limiting auditors’ ability to conduct onsite audits of aquaculture production sites and fisheries, certification programs worked with certification bodies to shift to partial or full remote audits while remaining in compliance with accreditation bodies. What’s working? What’s not working? What’s the future hold? Representatives of the world’s leading seafood certification programs discuss the advantages and disadvantages of remote audits, the need to maintain confidence and integrity in auditing, and the efficiencies that certification programs are realizing through remote audits.

Speaker: Tony Byers, PhD, Former Director, Global Diversity & Inclusion - Starbucks

Session Description: A properly managed diversity and inclusion program can increase engagement, creativity and business performance. By also learning to leverage diversity and inclusion through best practices, organizations can turn D&I into a powerful business advantage that stimulates innovation and drives marketplace growth.

In this game-changing keynote, Dr. Tony Byers shows you how to create a multiplier effect of inclusion that can increase utilization of talent and resources— more than doubling the capacity of a team to positively impact products and services, build brand image and increase profits and performance.

You’ll learn:

• The eight steps that create a culture of inclusion
• The three most important inclusive behaviors to promote
• How to make the business case for doing D&I well
• How companies have leveraged employee diversity to create new products, engage new customers, and grow revenue
• 10 themes for building senior leader support for D&I programs

Speakers: Mark DiDomenico, Director Customer Success – Datassential; Chef Jennifer Aranas, Director Client Solutions – Datassential; Chef Brett Smith, Corporate Executive Chef - King & Prince Seafood; Chef Greg Tomasello, Sr. Corporate Executive Chef – Foodbuy

Session Description: Mark DiDomenico from Datassential, along with a panel of chefs, explores food and flavor trends both during and post pandemic. The pandemic forced dramatic changes upon the food industry, with restaurants in particular hit hardest. Datassential and the panel discuss ways in which the industry changed, and whether or not those changes will remain. In addition, the discussion focuses on food and flavors trends that have been and will continue to be important in a post-COVID world.

Speakers: Richard Stavis, Founder – Stavis Consulting; Ian Amin, Senior Director of Supply Chain - Home Chef; Arron Kallenberg, Founder & CEO - Wild Alaskan Company; Rob Knecht, CEO/Co-Founder - Real Oyster Cult; Stephanie Pazzaglia, Business Development Manager - J.J. McDonnell & Co

Session Description: Few if any companies could have anticipated the path that 2020 took. Multi-generational patterns of shopping and consumption were upended when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down communities both by law and by practice as we stopped visiting our favorite establishments, stopped visiting with friends and family and sheltered in place. In the USA, seafood has traditionally been consumed primarily in restaurants. The question we all asked ourselves was, will consumers find a different way to get and eat seafood? Thankfully, the answer has been a resounding yes. Session panelists describe their successes and challenges in finding, defining and serving that market. Some challenges relate to rapid scale-up of in-specification inventory and order fulfillment capacity. Others involve pivot of company focus and reinvention of product line, customer base, payment and delivery logistics. One thing that all of the “winners” of the COVID-19 crisis have in common is a skillset that includes market analysis, a willingness to adapt and rapid implementation of new tactics.

Speakers: Rick Stein, VP of Fresh Foods - FMI (Food Marketing Institute); Guy Pizzuti, Seafood Category Manager – Publix; Jason Pride, Vice President - Meat and Seafood - Hy-Vee, Inc.; David Wier, Seafood Buyer / Merchandiser - Meijer, Inc

Session Description: FMI presents data to show how seafood at Supermarkets has performed over the last year. As consumers rushed to stores in March, April, and May and bought protein in unprecedented amounts, Seafood departments began to see a surge in seafood sales (both Frozen and Fresh). This session is a conversation with three distinct and top-tier retailers (Hy-Vee, Meijer, and Publix) Guy Pizzuti, Dave Wier, and Jason Pride. They describe the seafood department in their operations and how they have met consumer demand during the pandemic. They also address supply chain challenges and their view on the upcoming year. This session is a frank discussion about how supermarket seafood departments perform and how consumers are changing the way they purchase seafood.

Speakers: Benjamin England, FDAImports.com, LLC; Steve Bloodgood, US Food And Drug Administration; Troy Petrillo, US Food And Drug Administration; Jessica Rifkin, Benjamin L. England & Associates, LLC and FDAImports.com, LLC

The session will explore FDA’s and Customs’ inspection and audit processes for seafood processors and importers and seafood import shipments. Hear from FDA and Customs officials on what to expect in 2019, what they think is important, and why. Pick up tips on what you should be doing to make these inspections go more smoothly. Learn what seafood importers should avoid to reduce the risk of Customs actions. With the support of reality-based case studies, this panel will explore the importance of integrating regulatory compliance across many agency jurisdictions – and the potential pitfalls for seafood processors and importers. Hear how Custom’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) acts as a Single Window for Multi-Agency Enforcement. The panel will also discuss how new and renewed free trade agreements and tariff changes inform agency inspections and data requests and impact the seafood industry in particular.

Speakers: Darian McBain, Thai Union; Wenche Gronbrekk, Cermaq; Henrik Österblom, Stockholm University; Jose Villalon, Nutreco

The aim of the newly created SeaBOS initiative is to stimulate industry leadership for ocean stewardship in accordance with best available science. SeaBOS is the result of a science-based identification of “keystone actors” in global seafood, carried out by the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC) of Stockholm University and published in 2015. The members represent aquaculture, wild-capture fisheries, and the feed industry. The SRC has facilitated and coordinated the work of SeaBOS since 2016, but is now transferring this role to the companies themselves.

Speakers: Laurel Bryant, NOAA Fisheries; Todd DuBois, National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration, Office Of Law Enforcement (NOAA OLE); Christopher Robertson, U.S. Customs And Border Protection; Steven Wilson, U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service 

SIMP – a key tool in the United States’ response to combating IUU fishing and seafood fraud – has now been in place for more than a year. The recent addition of shrimp and abalone under its monitoring nearly doubled the volume and value of imported fish now subject to U.S. seafood traceability rules. How is it working? What’s next for seafood importers and exporters? The panel, composed of individuals representing the various roles and government agencies responsible for implementation, will present their perspectives on the program’s effectiveness and engage in moderated discussion and Q&A with the audience.

Speakers: Christine Burns Rudalevige, Coastal Culinary Academy; Abbie Curtis O’Reilly, GlobeScan; Brandon Hill, Sustainable Restaurant Group; Jennifer Lambert, Loblaw Companies Ltd.; Jan Tharp, Bumble Bee Seafoods; Shelley Zang, Kroger

A recent consumer survey found that 79 percent of American seafood consumers agree that fish must be protected for future generations. However, only 15 percent of American seafood consumers feel that retailers and large companies are effectively protecting the ocean environment. How can this gap be bridged? This session will attempt to better understand consumer behavior and the roles that brands, retailers, distributors, restaurants, and NGOs play in this important space. It will also unpack consumer decision-making at point of purchase, and the role the Marine Stewardship Council plays in purchase motivators. The panel will open with an overview of the survey results by Globescan, followed by input from industry leaders on how they are engaging with consumers and making them feel more confident in their purchases. Time will be dedicated to engaging the audience in a discussion about how to empower consumers in their purchasing decisions. The goal of this session is to gain an understanding of consumer purchasing motivators and market trends so that seafood brands, retailers, etc., can better inform their sustainability practices.

Speakers: Carol Ortenberg, NOSH / BevNET; Poorvi Patodia, Biena Snacks; Ken Plasse, Fishpeople; Kate Weiler, Drink Simple

The seafood industry has historically been very supply driven. But today’s consumer doesn’t want to be “sold” on what they need or engage in a one-way transaction with a company. Instead, they want to belong to a brand. In this panel, hear from experts in the natural foods and meal-kit world who have built successful, fast-growth, venture-backed businesses that are solving unmet consumer needs and building long-lasting relationships to help fuel future company growth. The aim of the panel is to give attendees a better understanding of how to meaningfully market to millennials and lessons on building an enduring brand that will drive company value and growth. Panelists will present examples of successful marketing programs, consumer research findings, and actionable suggestions. They will engage the audience with mobile polling along the way. The goal is for half the session (or more!) to be left for audience to ask questions.

Speakers: Herman Wisse, The Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI); Darian McBain, Thai Union; Hugo Byrnes, Ahold Delhaize; Sonja Schmid, The Consumer Goods Forum; Joe Zelasney, Food And Agriculture Organization

Globally, great efforts have been made to ensure seafood is produced and traded in an environmentally sustainable manner, while the promotion of social sustainability in seafood value chains has been much slower. The need to address critical social labor issues in the seafood industry is now globally understood and widely acknowledged. For this session, GSSI will be joined by the Consumer Goods Forum’s Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI) to discuss the two organizations’ collaboration to develop a global benchmark for social compliance schemes in the seafood sector. By providing an open-source list of recognized schemes, the GSSI – SSCI benchmark tool will deliver clear guidance on which seafood schemes cover key social compliance criteria and apply robust verification practices. GSSI and SSCI will also be joined by industry experts from across the supply chain and international organizations to discuss the role of international instruments and the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration in safeguarding human rights throughout seafood value chains.