Who's attending The Economist's World Oceans Summit?

IntraFish-supported event will engage leaders in fisheries, aquaculture policy debates.

Drew Cherry

The Economist’s World Oceans Summit is just one month away, and with an A-list of speakers and panelists the conference promises to generate discussion and debate over the challenges facing sustainable use of the world's oceans.

“There are large nations looking at the oceans and a way of extending their ability to grow economically, and there are all sorts of usages that they say are sustainable, but there are still questions about how sustainable those things are,” Charles Goddard, editorial director of The Economist Asia Pacific Intelligence Unit told IntraFish. “So how are we going to develop these economies in the appropriate way is right at the heart of the questions we’re asking."

Some 300 attendees are expected at the event. Among the notable speakers and panelists are: Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries; Peter Seligman, chief executive officer, Conservation International; United Nations Environment Program Executive Director Achim Steiner; Jia Guide, deputy director-general of the Department of Treaty and Law in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China; Deputy to the Secretary-General and Legal Counsel for the International Seabed Authority Michael Lodge; Julie Packard, founding executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium; Masamichi Morooka, chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping; and Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director and chief operating officer of the World Bank.

John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of The Economist, will chair the event.

(Click here for a full list of speakers)

Fishing and aquaculture will be among the core industries discussed at the event, along with ocean-dependent sectors such as shipping and oil and gas.

Goddard said the group put fishing and aquaculture high on the agenda of topics due to its economic importance globally, but also due to the complexity of the challenges facing the sector – challenges he hopes the event can help address.

“Fishing has had so much attention paid to it as an economic, social and political problem,” Goddard told IntraFish. “It’s fairly clear what some of the solutions are, but given the relative fragmentation of the industry it’s been hard to implement those.”

The Fisheries Working Group – “Overfishing: Accelerating the solutions” – will be comprised of panelists Miguel Angel Jorge, managing director of 50-in-10; Peter Boyd, chief operating officer of the Carbon War Room; Andrew Sharpless, chief executive officer at NGO Oceana; and Hans Jeurgen Mattern, vice president, head of Corporate Sustainability & Regulatory Affairs at German retailer Metro Group.

Subsidies, quota allocation, market-driven fisheries improvement practices and supply-side economic reforms will be among the issues discussed.

Aquaculture will be discussed in a separate working group, "Aquaculture: Farming the ocean, feeding the world," to highlight its unique set of opportunities and challenges in that sector, Goddard said.

“We are firmly of the view that the ocean’s economy is going to continue to develop, and part of that economy of course is going to be aquaculture,” Goddard told IntraFish. “Certainly there are all sorts of different views of aquaculture, but it should be part and parcel of how we use our oceans sustainably.”

Verlasso Director Scott Nichols will sit on the panel, along with Tony Haymet, distinguished professor of oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California; and James Anderson, oceans, fisheries and aquaculture advisor to the World Bank.

“Fifty percent of our fish comes from aquaculture, and we’ll just have to understand that we need to implement it sustainably, and it really will require a partnership of stakeholders,” Goddard said. “I hope we can bring the right people into the room and discuss what this might look like, and recognize that the private sector may have a role to play.”

The working groups will be chaired by an introductory speaker engaging panelists on key issues surrounding the topic, and discussing potential questions that will drive the debate.

The World Oceans Summit takes place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Half Moon Bay, Calif. Feb. 24-27. Click here for more information on the event, and contact cuan.joannides@intrafish.com for a special discounted attendance rate for IntraFish readers.