The 21st edition of the Global Seafood Alliance’s (GSA) signature event, GOAL: The Responsible Seafood Conference, will be held at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle, Washington (pictured above), from October 3 to 6. The in-person event was scheduled to be held Tokyo from October 24 to 27, but coronavirus pandemic-associated travel restrictions made having a face-to-face gathering in Japan impractical.
“While we are disappointed that GOAL will not be held in Tokyo this year, we are excited that the event is returning to the United States for the first time in 13 years, when GOAL 2009 was held in Seattle,” said GSA CEO Brian Perkins. “We chose Seattle because it fits ideally with our budding involvement in wild-capture fisheries with the rebranding from the Global Aquaculture Alliance to the Global Seafood Alliance last year, and Seattle has a rich fishing tradition.”
Perkins added: “Nothing can replace the value of the connections made at in-person events. We’re really looking forward to gathering with our associates in-person again.”
GOAL has a 21-year history of convening seafood thought leaders from across the globe. Originally called the Global Shrimp Outlook for Leadership, it was held in Singapore in 2001. The event was rebranded as the Global Outlook for Aquaculture Leadership (GOAL) in 2008 and again in 2020 as GOAL: The Responsible Seafood Conference when wild-capture fisheries, ocean health and climate change began to be incorporated into the conference program. GOAL has been held in 18 cities on four continents since 2001.
Today, GOAL consists of a series of virtual events highlighted by a three-day in-person event in the fall. Though the face-to-face gathering has grown from fewer than 100 attendees in 2001 to upward of 500 today, the mission remains the same – to provide a pre-competitive space for seafood change makers to put day-to-day business aside to learn, network and socialize. The world’s leading retail and foodservice seafood buyers are always well represented at GOAL, whether virtual or in-person. Buyers play a key role in influencing seafood production practices through their corporate social responsibility policies and associated sourcing specifications.
An outline of the three-day conference program will be released by late May, and registration will open on June 1. Dates for the virtual events will also be announced by late May.
