SFP in Barcelona

Seafood Expo Global 2024

Highlights from Seafood Expo Global

April 23-25, 2024, in Barcelona, Spain

Panel reviews implication of new EU Due Diligence Directive

SFP hosted a panel discussion at the Expo on the potential wide-ranging impacts of the new EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. The Directive was approved by the European Parliament on the same day that the panel took place, moving it one step closer to adoption by the European Union. It creates a legal liability for companies relating to environmental and human rights violations within their supply chains.

Among the topics discussed at the panel were how the Directive will affect small-scale fisheries and how SFP’s readily available tools such as FishSource can help companies carry out risk-based assessments. The panel began with an analysis of the new Directive by Francesca Peretti of ClientEarth. Other speakers included Yago Dosón, Blue Food Specialist at Iberostar, SFP Global Fisheries Director Enrique Alonso, and Jose Alvarado from Halaihue Fishers Federation, who explained the environmental and social challenges faced by artisanal Southern Hake fisheries.

Panel on implications of EU Due Diligence Directive - Seafood Expo Global 2024

SFP Fisheries Markets Director Pedro Ferreiro introduces the panelists, (L-R) Yago Dosón, Francesca Peretti, Enrique Alonso, and Jose Alvarado.

Peru jumbo flying squid fishery stakeholders highlight progress toward sustainability

Stakeholders from the Peruvian fishing sector came together in Barcelona to discuss the state of Peru’s jumbo flying squid (JFS) fishery, one of the largest artisanal fisheries in the world. The participants reviewed progress by the JFS fishery improvement project (FIP), and stressed the value of coordination between industry and other stakeholders in the fishery. They also highlighted the importance of fighting against IUU fishing, including illegal incursions by distant-water squid vessels into Peruvian waters, and ensuring that regional management of the resource is based on rigorous and transparent science.

The JFS fishery is one of the largest artisanal fisheries in the world. Participation and engagement by artisanal producers and processors in the fishery have helped contribute to important progress in management of the fishery over the last several years. Event participants included representatives from SONAPESCAL (the Peruvian Artisanal Fishing Society), CAPECAL (the Peruvian Chamber for Jumbo Flying Squid), and CALAMASUR (the Committee for the Sustainable Management of the Jumbo Flying Squid).

Peru Jumbo Flying Squid Fishery stakeholders at Seafood Expo Global 2024 in Barcelona

(L-R) Gilary Morales, Fisheries Improvement Officer, WWF Peru; Gerardo Carrer, President, CAPECAL; Alfonso Miranda, President, CALAMASUR; Elsa Vega, President, SONAPESCAL; Stefany Rojas, Peru Coordinator, SFP; Carlos Yenque, Manager, SONAPESCAL; Enrique Alonso, Global Fisheries Director, SFP. The event was supported by SFP, WWF & PromPeru.

Global Octopus and Global Squid SRs meet to review progress and look toward future

Speakers from SMCP Mauritania at the Global Octopus Supply Chain Roundtable meeting at Seafood Expo Global 2024 in Barcelona

At the Global Octopus SR meeting, representatives from SMCP in Mauritania (above, left) presented on the recent approval by the Mauritanian government of a national decree to include the newly established Mauritanian octopus fishery improvement project (FIP) in the national fishing strategy.

SFP SR Director Carmen Gonzalez-Valles speaking at the Global Squid Supply Chain Roundtable meeting at Seafood Expo Global 2024 in Barcelona

At the Global Squid SR meeting, SFP SR Director Carmen González-Vallés presented progress by the SR to a packed room (above, right), and highlighted the need for SR participants, and the seafood industry in general, to endorse larger corporate commitments to traceability and corporate social responsibility. In the coming months, SR participants will participate in training sessions on addressing human rights in their supply chains.

An ideal venue for meeting with partners and colleagues

Teams from SFP and SeaBOS meet at Seafood Expo Global 2024 in Barcelona

Teams from SFP, led by CEO Jim Cannon (center), and SeaBOS, led by Managing Director Martin Exel (4th from left), met to kick off a collaboration on SeaBOS’s West Coast Africa Keystone Project. The project will develop tools and approaches to help identify and eliminate IUU fishing and modern slavery within SeaBOS member companies´ operations and supply chains. The project will work with local governments, civil society, FIPs, and others to develop approaches and implement actions that can then be adapted to and used in other regions.

Northern Cod FIP stakeholders meet at Seafood Expo Global 2024 in Barcelona

SFP Chief Executive Officer Jim Cannon (back row, third from right) joined industry, government, and NGO stakeholders in Barcelona to review progress in the Northern Cod Fishery Improvement Project (FIP). The industry-led FIP, which began in 2015, has been working to restore Northern Atlantic cod stocks on the east coast of Canada. Once one of the largest fisheries in the world, the cod fishery collapsed in 1992, leading to a long moratorium. According to the latest data from Canada, the stock is now out of the critical zone and has been improving. Cannon praised the “world-class” science coming out of the FIP and described this latest news as encouraging, “setting the stage to move towards a sustainable commercial fishery.”