Wednesday, Sept. 28, 4.46 pm GMT
White spot has cost global shrimp industry $20 billion
Since its emergence white spot disease, or WSSV, has cost the global shrimp industry around $20 billion, according to Grant Stentiford, principal scientific officer at CEFAS.
The shrimp aquaculture industry is worth between $12 billion to $15 billion per annum, he said, but WSSV is the industry’s number one pathogen, costing it around $1 billion each year, he said.
Emergent diseases in the industry are frequent, said Stentiford, and pressed the need for investment into disease management.
“Disease undermines market investment and is the number one issue facing the industry,” he said. “Yet there is too little investment into disease management."
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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 4.23 pm GMT
Chile’s biosecurity can be more sophisticated than UK
Biosecurity in Chile’s salmon sector could be even more sophisticated than that in the United Kingdom, but a lack of sufficient trust or a cooperative approach means rules are not always fully respected and this is pulling the country back.
According to Jonathan Shepherd, the former director general at IFFO and non executive at Omega Protein, the industry needs to recognize the benefits of a collaborative approach to fish health.
Shepherd said there is still very much an ongoing debate within the sector in Chile regarding the best approach to take for recovery.
The World Bank said in 2012 the values and attitudes of those involved in the industry are a crucial component of preventing future problems.
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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 4.02 pm GMT
Sudden dose of reality
Brexit -- Britain's decision to leave the European Union -- may be a “stupid decision,” according to Mike Elliott, director University of Hull, representing the Seafish Scientific Advisory Group, but the industry must now find the best way to live with it.
There are many challenges to face, not least vastly complex marine management legislation, but also issues of funding and skills from the EU which the UK has been heavily reliant upon, he said.
“We put £1 billion into the European research fund a year but, because we were good at it, managed to get £1.6 billion back,” he said.
“Where will this extra £0.6 billion come from now? This funding deficit for research will be real problem.”
But while the UK doesn’t have an exit strategy -- now is time to work on how we get through it, said Elliott.
“There will be a sudden dose of reality, where we realize we can’t have everything and have to come up with an agreement,” he said.
“The EU is just as worried as we are, and is looking for best way to negotiate a way through it too.”
So now it is about waiting for the start gun, he said, because serious negotiations will not happen until that point.
“It has to come across as mutual back scratching and can’t come across as the UK gets a better deal," he said.
"Let’s not kid ourselves they need us more than we need them -- because it’s simply not the case.”
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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2.57 pm GMT
Calls for continued access to EU market post Brexit
Nigel Edwards, technical and CSR director at Icelandic Seachill, is calling for continued access to the EU market following Britain's exit from the European Union.
During a panel debate on the subject, Edwards said the UK needs to need to maintain existing market access to the EU, but just as importantly the ability to import at zero or reduced tariffs, including autonomous tariff quotas (ATQs).
He also mentioned the need to maintain funding for fundamental science and research and development (R&D) that drives the UK’s competitive advantage.
“The current agreements benefit both sides,” said Edwards. “Seafood is the most widely traded commodity globally and it is critical for everybody free trade continues."
According to Simon Dwyer, director Seafox Consultants,660,000 metric tons of fish is imported into UK each year, mainly from the European Union.
The UK exports 500,000 metric tons, also mainly to EU countries.
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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2.21 pm GMT
Fisheries law will take years to redo post Brexit
Currently, a “huge amount” of fisheries law in the United Kingdom is effectively EU legislation. Following Brexit, the industry will need to transition from EU law to UK law -- not a simple process, warned Andrew Oliver, partner at Andrew Jackson solicitors.
“Come the day, it will simply not be possible to convert all that law,” Oliver said.
“We simply have not got the civil service to do it -- so the question is do they have skills and abilities as well as resources to actually make new laws?”
If it’s fisheries law in Europe it’s fisheries law in UK and while that in theory come to an end overnight, in reality there will need to be legislation to effectively transition regulations.
The main legal issues surround fisheries limits and access rights.
"We struggle to enforce these limits as it is,” said Oliver.
“When we extend to 200 miles how will it be enforced, who will manage the new limit? Is the MMO fit for purpose?”
As for access rights, Oliver questioned how much will actually change.
“Our destiny is in our own hands, but in a few years will access rights actually look noticeably different as they do today?" he asked. "After all we will all still fish in each others’ waters.”
Either way Oliver thinks it will be an interesting time for fisheries lawyers for at least 10 years. “Not much will change for next 10 years and legislation won’t change overnight,” he said.
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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2.01 pm GMT
Brexit: in the grand scheme of things how important will the fishing industry be?
While there are many in this industry who are extremely passionate about it and will fight tooth and nail for the perfect outcome from Brexit, there are plenty of other industries with people equally as passionate.
So ultimately it will come down to where the political will lies, said Andrew Oliver, partner at Andrew Jackson solicitors.
"There are other people out there equally passionate about coal, farming, or whatever else, so it’s where the political will lies ultimately. I still have a fear, fishing will not be top of the agenda," Oliver said.
“We are in a strong position as an industry and unified as an industry but we are also battling other industries and sectors who are equally passionate about their industries when it comes to a final showdown.”
However, Dale Rodmell, assistant CEO at NFFO, maintained the industry has a “powerful basis” for negotiations.
“We have a strong hand in achieving some of the things we want to achieve and we are in a positive starting position,” he said.
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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 1.46 pm GMT
Brexit could see Eastern Europe become the new Grimsby
As it stands, around 80 percent of EU workers currently working in the UK would not meet visa requirements should Brexit go ahead, “which is a major issue,” warned Mike Berthet, marketing development manager at Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA).
During an expert panel on "Turning Brexit to our advantage: what does the UK seafood industry want to see post-Brexit?", Berthet said Brexit may help seafood processing sectors in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, making them essentially a new Grimsby.
“If those workers are not able to stay in UK under current requirements, and if we have tariffs levied to export to the EU, in the not too distant future countries such as Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland will become the Grimsby of the future,” he said.
“They would not be into paying for higher labor rates, or tariffs for something they can produce themselves.”
Berthet stressed the importance of putting together a crack team of forward-thinking specialist negotiators to take the industry through the process successfully.
“We need to get the right people on the bus to work with Defra and to negotiate best deal. We cannot spend the next 100 years apologizing for a mediocre job that could be carried out well," he said.
“But If we do a good job at negotiating our way through this, it can be held up as an example and there will be many opportunities.”
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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 11.37 am GMT
Discounters are nothing new
While the growth in discount retailers is often reported, it is easy to forget the concept existed many years ago in the UK, according to Chris Lamb of Seafish.
Namely in the form of Kwik Save, the British discount supermarket chain which went into administration in 2007.
So “we have been here before” and today, with the likes of Aldi and Lidl, it is more about a resurgence rather than growth.
“In a way, Kwik Save brought about its own demise because it didn’t move with the times,” said Lamb.
In addition, Aldi and Lidl are not newcomers, but have been on the continent for ages, and they have come over here with a much improved offering.
“There model is more about reduced ranges, so seafood won’t have the same range and opportunities it does in the main supermarkets, but maybe we can do something about that," he said.
“What can we do to continue to get a share as we did in the big supermarkets and develop it as the consumer develops."
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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 11.16 am GMT
Seafood needs to grasp foodservice opportunities
The foodservice market in the UK is currently worth around £53 billion and is growing, as people eat out more often and spend more money when they do, according to Julia Brooks, Market Insight Analyst, at Seafish.
“And seafood should be a big part of this,” she said.
In particular quick service, and full service are driving this growth. Seafood servings and incidence meanwhile have also grown this year. In this respect quick service is up 8.7 percent, travel and leisure up 6.8 percent, canteens up 6.6 percent and pubs 3.4 percent.
However, in terms of fish and chip shops and full service restaurants, these are both in decline by 8.9 percent and 2 percent respectively.
“Quick service continues to represent the biggest opportunity for seafood,” said Brooks, “and shellfish is key to the future.
“Not all restaurants have seafood on the menu, so we need to get it out there,” she said.
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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 10.41 am GMT
Online is the way to get seafood to families
Seafood currently undertrades with families, according to Katherine Shade, consumer insight director at Kantar, but “online can fix this."
Traditionally, seafood sold online is more likely to be frozen, she said, but there is also recent growth in fresh sales online.
“Online seafood is the way to families,” said Shade. “Frozen is key, but fresh is an opportunity.”
Seafood growth will be led through offering healthy and practical solutions; products that are easy to prepare, require less cooking and are filling.
At the moment 79 percent of seafood purchased online is consumed on weekdays “where health and practicality is key,” but this also opens up an opportunity to focus on boosting weekend consumption, said Shade.
“It is about being relevant and staying on top of current trends,” she said.
Overall fish and seafood is growing 2.6 percent in terms of spend -- but this is mainly driven by price increases rather than consumers buying more, said Shade.
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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 9.53 am GMT
How to get more protein, but with less impact
Everyone agrees the world is going to need more protein from the sea as the population grows, but the question now is how to do this without doing too much damage to the environment.
According to Alex Olsen, fisheries specialist at Espersen, It is all about leadership.
"Whether you lead or follow, you will have costs," he said.
But to ensure food security while limiting negative impacts on the oceans will require the whole industry working together, Olsen said.
“Transparency and cooperation is essential to address the complex problems," he said. "And someone needs to be first mover, don’t wait for someone else.”
Referring to Greenpeace’s latest campaign "This Far. No Further." designed to protect the Arctic and stop fishing in new and unknown areas of the Barents Sea, Olsen said “no single company can do anything about that, we need to work together."
Nevertheless, as climate change melts the ice caps and new unexplored areas of the Barents Sea open up, cod will inevitably start moving there.
“So it’s tricky -- how do we protect the area but still ensure we have enough supply,” Olsen said.
So far, the industry has responded to these concerns and companies such as Tesco, Nomad Foods, Icelandic Seachill, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda, M&S, and Young’s Seafood have signed agreements to avoid purchasing fish from the waters.
Companies would only begin moving fish from the region into their supply chains when there is enough information to ensure no harm will be done.
In addition, Espersen has partnered with Nomad Foods, Seafish, Icelandic Seachill and FAI to form a "Disruptive Seafood Harvesting Workshop" to create and build support for innovative selective harvesting design concepts.
This is to ensure the current and future availability of affordable food originating from sustainable fish stocks, but also reduce negative environmental impacts of bottom trawling.
This is possible and feasible, said Olsen, the knowledge and technology exists, it is just a case of refining it.
“We need to establish a global network to solve the problems with trawl fishing once and for all," he said.
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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 9.01 am GMT
Thinking better, creating value
Seafood is on trend, there is no denying it. It ticks all the boxes on the consumer’s health agenda and increasingly, their need for convenience. It's also a key to helping feed mouths as the global population grows.
So where is the enthusiasm?
“Things couldn’t look better for the seafood industry, so why aren’t we completely excited about it?” asked Tara McCarthy, CEO of Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), in the opening speech of the summit.
All the trends are working for the industry, but overcoming challenges to exploit opportunities is the challenge, she saked.
“It is a complex industry and not quite as easy as 'turn it on and we’re there to meet the demand,'” she said.
So Ireland is setting out a new plan, focusing on the long-term future.
For example, Ireland’s seafood sector is not structured to capitalize on global trends. There is a cap on volume, for example, the sector is fragmented, tends to be production driven, the industry has no unified voice and there is a fractured relationship with the government.
“The supply chains not aligned," said McCarthy. "Most sales are commodities to intermediaries, and there is no feedback loop from consumers."
There is also limited ability to invest in innovation and brands, and it is hard to attract and retain new people to the industry.
“We know we have fantastic products, but we know we’re not leveraging the opportunities available with our raw material,” she said.
Ireland is building a foundation for the future, with a strategy of creating an industry focused on value creation and profitability.
“We need to become a high-value supplier by focusing on differentiation and creating value in our products, and then we align supply chain behind it," she said. "The goal is to sell less as a commodity.”
The main strategy is to focus on attracting more talent and skills to the sector by making it more attractive. Then the industry will focus on sustainability, innovation facilitation, and improving its competitiveness, she said.
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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 8.00 am GMT
Change of scenery
After taking a break last year to host the World Seafood Congress, the Humber Seafood Summit is back, but instead of being in Grimsby, UK, where the event is usually held, this years summit is taking place in Cleethorpes, just down the road.
Organized by Seafish, the annual Seafood Fayre took place yesterday evening at the Humber Royal Hotel, where the event has been traditionally celebrated, but today the main event will be at the Pier in Cleethorpes.
The venue for the main day of the conference has been moved in order to accommodate the growing number of attendees expected to join the event, said Seafish.
“Due to the success of the previous summits and the impact of the World Seafood Congress we required a larger venue to hold the day conference,” it said in a statement.
Brexit and its potential impact on the UK seafood industry will take center stage at the Humber Seafood Summit with a special panel discussion concentrating on the impact of the EU referendum and likely outcomes of the vote's result.
Trade, the UK consumer, and aquaculture are also three areas of focus at this year’s event with discussions on retail and foodservice trends, supply chain development, product integrity and industry outlooks.
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