For all the trade shows that have come, gone or lost their luster, the Groundfish Forum has continued to maintain its aura of exclusivity, relevance and top-tier networking.

But behind the magic for all these years has been a small, core group of executives committed to keeping the event evolving throughout the change. Behind the scenes, from the very beginning, has been Managing Director and Executive Secretary Alda Moller, who many credit as a key part of the event’s longevity.

Alda (who as a student of Icelandic linguistics said her first name was technically the most accurate way to attribute her quotes), spent the overwhelming majority of her life involved in the seafood sector, with what was then known as Icelandic Freezing Plants (later to morph into Icelandic Group) when her boss at the time came up with a problem: too many of the trade shows were deemed a waste of time.

“I remember my bosses at Icelandic Freezing Plants going to some of these conferences, and they spent a lot of time calling back to the office and checking on things and general news,” Moller said. “It looked as if they had very little to do and needed to kill time.”

For Alda, that’s been the heart of the Groundfish Forum’s success, and what she’s tried to preserve.

“I’ve been philosophically interested in the concept of ‘time,’ for a very long time,” Moeller said. “Few business people are money poor, but everyone is time poor to a certain extent.”

The structure of the Forum remains unusual: rather than packing in exhaustive presentations and panel discussions, the event focuses on tight, half day sessions that leave the rest of the day open.

“I’ve always thought the conference itself was half of the experience and usefulness, and the other half is meeting up with people and doing business,” Alda said. “We accept that – the conference is not the start and end of everything.”

From 'best guess' to 'industry benchmark'

Initially, one of the biggest draws to the event was the species supply and disposition report – essentially a “best guess” of the quotas and catches for groundfish from around the world.

The first version, which was edited by Alda, “turned out to be quite a good little book.” The attendees agreed, and once word got out, it became the go-to guide for where the world’s supply of whitefish was headed.

Alda calls the species disposition “the backbone of the forum.” Even though there are publicly available figures, very few are current and even fewer could offer a look ahead.

“We tried to do final figures for the last year, reliable estimates for the current year, and maybe less reliable projections for next year. And that is valuable,” she said. “People attending have seen continuity over the years, and it’s made a big difference in their business.”

Most impressive to attendees, Alda said, was the speed at which the first report was delivered.

“I remember it was about five weeks after the Forum that it was sent out to 160 people around the world,” Alda said. “That sounds prehistoric, but at that time it was pretty impressive.”

Alda, together with Sanford CEO Volker Kuntzsch and Endeavor Seafood’s Todd Clark, have been responsible for the production of the report for 20 years running. In September of each year, the three get together for a weekend to roll up their sleeves and get the report finished.

“It’s a bit like electing a new Pope – you don’t leave the room until it’s done,” Alda said.

Though it may be a small thing, shining a brighter and brighter light on the global whitefish supply for each forum has been rewarding, Alda said.

“It’s been driven by a vision: to be a little bit more right every year, and also to delve deeper into areas where we felt we were on unsafe ground. So we had a mission to find out more about certain areas, new species…it’s been a real learning process.”

The next generation

The makeup of the Groundfish Forum has changed over the years, and there is an effort to recruit new people. Of the 300 attendees at the 27th annual event in London, for example, 58 were new to the roster. The group recently launched an initiative to bring young managers into the crowd as well.

“This is really an effort to bring young people in and to make the companies in the forum more aware of the need to bring in a younger generation,” Alda said.

The board, chaired by Espersen CEO Klaus Nielsen, is constantly looking for other ways to bring in relevant attendees from different regions, and more female managers as well. But the key standard – only inviting upper management executives – remains in place.

Alda plans to help with the global overview next year, but will mainly be “in the background.”

“I don’t intend to look over people’s shoulders at all,” she said. “When you retire you retire – there’s too many people that come back. But I have plenty to do, so I won’t miss it too much.”

It’s not likely that other members of the world’s whitefish industry will feel the same way about Alda.