The Netherlands / Utrecht – The first ever Global Shrimp Forum will take place on 6-8 September 2022 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, it has been announced. The Forum is the warm water shrimp industry’s first dedicated annual conference and business meeting, aiming to drive the shrimp industry towards a resilient and sustainable future.
The global warm water shrimp production doubled over the last 10 years, and over the next 30 years, demand for seafood is expected to increase further. Global trade of farmed shrimp will continue to expand connecting the producing countries with consumers in many markets around the globe. But this USD 20 billion per year industry doesn’t have its own meeting place where all different businesses and stakeholders can connect.
The Global Shrimp Forum will cover relevant and urgent business topics such as:
- Production and market outlooks
- innovation and technologies that transform shrimp production, supply chains and markets
- legal and regulatory challenges
- new and upcoming producers and niche products
- finance and investment.
But first and foremost, the Global Shrimp Forum will become the largest unique top-executive meeting place for the shrimp industry, bringing together more than 400 leading players across the entire supply chain.
The Global Shrimp Forum is initiated by an independent non-for-profit foundation set up by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), Shrimp Insights, and Contango. The purpose of the Global Shrimp Forum Foundation (GSFF) is to establish a global platform for knowledge sharing, innovation, and industry value-chain collaboration for driving a sustainable future for the industry. Besides ASC, Shrimp Insights and Contango, Johan Brouwer – former executive at Mowi and Seafood Connection and today working for Veramaris – also has a seat on the Global Shrimp Forum Foundation board.
Willem van der Pijl, owner of Shrimp Insights, and founder, board member and Managing Director of Global Shrimp Forum, said: ‘The shrimp industry is fragmented. It consists of hundreds of thousands of farmers, thousands of importers and exporters, and many more companies that support the industry with ingredients, technologies, services and finance and investment.
‘This high level of fragmentation makes it difficult to convene a meeting where all these players feel represented, which is why the Global Shrimp Forum is such an important initiative.
‘Establishing a dedicated platform for everyone who wants to be part of a dialogue on not only the challenges confronting the shrimp industry but also the potential solutions is greatly needed. I view it as my personal mission to make this initiative successful.’
The three co-founders are supported by a wide range of global industry leaders from the entire warm water shrimp value chain who have come on board as founding sponsors and conference partners.
The founding sponsors are: (1) Santa Priscila, (2) Omarsa, (3) Devi Seafoods, (4) AZ Gems and Sandhya Aqua, (5) Unima, (6) Labeyrie Fine Foods, Lyons Seafoods and Delpierre, (7) Seafood Connection, Maruha Nichiro and Inlet SeaFish, (8) Klaas Puul and Sykes, (9) Primstar and Gambastar, (10) Skretting, (11) Grobest, (12) JAPFA and Suri Tani Pemuka, (13) Protix, (14) Hendrix Genetics and Kona Bay, (15) Xpertsea, (16) eFishery, (17) Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, (18) Aqua-Spark, (19) Heiploeg, (20) MSD Animal Health and IdentiGEN, (21) Seajoy by Cooke, (22) Thai Union and Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods.
Thanks to the early support of these founding sponsors, representing diverse sectors in the shrimp value chain, the Forum can make a flying start in achieving its ambitions.
Chris Ninnes, CEO of ASC, and Chair of GSFF said: ‘Only through collaboration can impactful change be delivered. ASC’s commitment to this Forum reflects our dedication to collaborating with all those committed to recognizing and rewarding responsible aquaculture and to those actively looking to support the sector to make broadscale improvements.’
‘The warm water shrimp industry deserves its own independent global platform where all facets of the industry – from exporters to importers, from feed companies to tech companies, retailers and brands but also financial institutions and NGOs, researchers and policy makers – can meet, share expertise and collaborate.’
Brahmanandam Potru, Chairman and Managing Director of Devi Seafoods said: ‘Devi Sea Foods has been in the industry for nearly three decades and has a presence in all sections of the shrimp supply chain. As one of the large shrimp producers from India, Devi Sea Foods has been working towards responsible sourcing by participating in improvement programs for sustainability and traceability.
‘The Global Shrimp Forum would be an ideal platform for industry participants with diverse experiences and perspectives to share their learning and build better solutions for the global shrimp industry.’
Amy Novogratz, Managing Partner of AquaSpark said: ‘We are grateful for the opportunity to participate as founding partners of GSF. As a fund invested in multiple shrimp solutions across the value chain, including alternative feed ingredients, disease battling, Digital Aquatech, and data powered marketplaces, we see the shrimp industry radically changing for the better. Bringing these solutions together with farmers, industry and other stakeholders to foster cooperation and an aligned vision of the future of shrimp is an imperative and exciting next step.’
The Forum will meet on an annual basis over a 3-day period in early September in Utrecht, the Netherlands. This location is at the heart of the European markets, and functions as a hub for tech companies and investors. The conference will be relevant for producers and exporters, importers, feed companies, ingredient suppliers, technology companies, finance and investment agencies, governments, and civil society organizations.
Hassan Skøien, Global Marketing & Innovation Director Shrimp of Skretting, said:
‘The Global Seafood Forum is an excellent initiative to gather all relevant stakeholders of one of the fastest growing seafood sectors, the shrimp industry. A platform representing the whole supply chain from East to West will help find solutions for the most urgent challenges we are facing.’
Estelle Brennan, Head of Sustainability of Labeyrie Fine Foods UK, said: ‘Labeyrie Fine Foods is proud to be a founding sponsor of the Global Shrimp Forum, supporting the ASC and the Global Shrimp Forum team bringing together leading players of all facets of the shrimp value chains. Labeyrie firmly believes that such collaborative forums are essential to bolster collective actions and drive improvements.’
Jørgen J. Lund, CEO of Contango AS, Oslo, and one of the three founders of the Global Shrimp Forum, said: ‘As the founder of the world’s largest seafood conference in Norway in 2005, NASF, I am proud to team up with the ASC and Shrimp Insights to form this unique global top-executive venue, similar in format to NASF, solely for the warm-water shrimp industry.
This will be a unique commercial platform for the entire shrimp industry worldwide to congregate and meet on a venue created for the industry and by the industry!’
Registration for the event is now open on the Global Shrimp Forum website. Register now to get the best value Early Bird Registrations, available until 1 May. In addition, sponsorship packages are available for those looking to support this important collaboration while enhancing their visibility at the Forum and within the industry.
About the ASC
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation co-founded by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) in 2010 to manage the certification of responsible fish farming across the globe.
The ASC standards require farm performance to be measured against both environmental and social requirements. Certification is through an independent third party process and reports are uploaded to the public ASC website.
The on-pack ASC logo guarantees to consumers that the fish they purchase has been farmed with minimal impacts on the environment and on society.
For more information about ASC please visit www.asc-aqua.org.
