From shrimp and salmon to white fish, pelagic species and other fishery products, the state of the seafood industry and related business will be examined in detail during the 10th North Atlantic Seafood Forum (NASF) next month in Bergen, Norway. Approximately 550 delegates from 25 countries attend the event last year, and the 2015 running is expected to be just as successful.
Cold water prawns will the subject of Simon Jarding’s remarks at the NASF conference. Among more than 100 speakers on the agenda is Simon Jarding, director of corporate business development at Royal Greenland A/S and chairman of the International Cold Water Prawn Forum (ICWPF). His timely topic, “Status and Outlook for Cold Water Prawns,” will be presented on the morning of March 4.
With direct access to a rich resource of cold water prawns and Greenland halibut, Nuuk-headquartered Royal Greenland ranks among the largest global suppliers of these two species. The vertically integrated operation, combining fishing with processing, logistics, sales and marketing, provides customers with a wide range of high-quality, North Atlantic seafood products.
Owned fully by the Greenlandic Self Rule Government, the company ranks as Greenland’s largest employer. More than 1,000 independent, small-scale fishermen supply its factories on a daily basis. Most of the value-added production is exported to customers around the world in frozen form.
Jarding’s remarks will be followed by a session dedicated to new emerging trade agreements. Panelists will include John Connelly, ceo of the National Fisheries Institute in the USA, Torben Foss, managing partner of PwC Seafood Centre in Norway, and Guus Pastoor of the Brussels-based European Seafood Federation.
Among other speakers on the March 4 roster are: Ole Erik Leroy, chairman of the Bergen, Norway-based Marine Harvest Group; James Hill, ceo of the Findus Group and Young’s Seafood in the UK; Jose Ramon Gutierrez, chairman of MultiExport in Chile; Borge Prytz Larsen, director of Severnaya Companies in Russia; Jurgen Pauli of Globus in Germany; Gerard van Balsfoort, president of the Pelagic Freezer Trawlers Association of the Netherlands.
The final day of the conference, March 5, will be opened by Chairman Torunn Halhjem, international sales director of Trident Seafoods in the USA. A full slate of speakers will follow. Among the are: Felix Ratheb, ceo of Sea Harvest in South Africa; Paul Geary, senior buying manager of fish for the ASDA retail chain in the UK; Dr. Hayri Deniz, director of Kilic in Turkey; Gary Phillips, executive purchaser at Alibaba in China.
The three-day North Atlantic Seafood Forum will kick off on March 3 at 3 PM with a seafood leadership seminar and recruitment initiative organized by Young Fish, FFV and The Seafood Innovation Cluster (TSIC) of Bergen. Among speakers will be UK-based Michael Whitney, managing partner of Kincannon Reed, the world’s largest recruitment firm. Opportunities for networking and mingling will be part of the program, as well as dinner.
The Radisson Blu Royal Hotel is the conference’s venue. Registration information and additional details are available by visiting the organizer’s website at www.nor-seafood.com.
