SFP in Barcelona

Seafood Expo Global 2026

See all the highlights from our week in Barcelona at Seafood Expo Global 2026, the world’s largest seafood trade show.

SFP and Seafood Souq agree to collaborate on traceability and sustainability solutions

SFP and Seafood Souq, a UAE-based technology company that uses digital tools to improve seafood traceability, signed an MoU at the Expo, committing to work together to help the seafood supply chain identify harvest sources and understand sustainability risks, with a focus on the Middle East, North Africa, and the broader MENA region. This marks SFP’s first formal partnership in the region. By connecting Seafood Souq’s on-the-ground traceability technology with SFP’s Seafood Metrics system, the partnership will help supply chain actors access end-to-end source information, backed by a trusted decision-support tool.

SFP and Seafood Souq representatives shaking hands after signing an MoU

SFP Partnership Engagement Specialist David Parreño Duque and Seafood Souq co-CEO Scott Chambers finalizing the MoU

Markets hold real power over fisheries in a blue food economy

SFP Partnership Engagement Specialist David Parreño Duque participated in a panel on the latest developments in blue food policies and strategies. Brazil’s Minister of Fisheries Rivetla Edipo Araujo opened the session by placing blue foods at the top of the national policy agenda, highlighting the key role of government in supporting fishery improvement. Speakers then explored how GDST-aligned traceability and fishery improvement projects are connecting small-scale producers to high-value global markets, using Mexico as a proof of concept. The central message was clear: markets hold real power over fisheries, and when buyers source preferentially from fisheries making measurable progress, fisheries move faster, and that pull is replicable.

(L-R) Mark Kaplan, Chief Sustainability Officer, Wholechain; David Parreño Duque, SFP; Rene Benguerel, Co-founder and CEO, Blueyou

Worker engagement is critical for upholding workers' rights

Dave Martin, SFP Global Supply Chains Director, participated in a panel about the critical importance of worker engagement for upholding workers’ rights in the seafood sector. The panelists highlighted the need for the seafood industry to better collaborate and work with civil society organizations to build capacity and foseter effective worker engagement. They also discussed the partnership between the Certification and Ratings Collaboration (of which SFP is a member) and the Issara Institute.

(L-R) Dave Martin; Lisa Rende Taylor, Founder and Executive Director, Issara Institute; Froukje Kruijssen, Human Rights Programme Manager, Aquaculture Stewardship Council

Empowering small-scale fishers can enhance compliance and sustainability

SFP Fisheries Governance & Livelihoods Director Pedro Ferreiro moderated a panel discussion on industry leadership in small-scale fisheries. The panelists discussed the importance of empowering small-scale fisheries actors to enhance compliance and sustainability, and emphasized that fisheries governance is a shared supply chain responsibility, not just a matter for fishers and policy makers. To achieve these goals, industry should move from “demanding” compliance with requirements to “enabling” that compliance through long-term partnerships with producer-lead organizations and other groups.

“The role of the seafood industry is not just to set the bar high, but to help build the ladder so that small-scale fisheries, the backbone of our global supply, can reach it,” Ferreiro said.

Panelists included Alejandro Castro, Sustainability Manager at Profand Group; Francisco Javier Alarcón Holguín, a vessel owner from the ASOAMAN mahi-mahi FIP in Ecuador; George Pinto, President of ASOAMAN; and Dave Parker, Head of Fisheries and Aquaculture for Sainsbury’s Supermarkets.

(L-R) Pedro Ferreiro, Francisco Javier Alarcón Holguín, and Dave Parker

Click here for more highlights from the panel

ESG principles are a vital component of ethical, sustainable seafood

SFP Global Fisheries Analyst Miguel Ruano participated in a panel on the global rise in demand for “blue food” and the vital need to integrate ESG principles as a part of producing ethical, sustainable seafood. The participants explored science-based stewardship and welfare practices to future proof the sector and analyzed corporate signals and emerging issues that will define the trajectory of ESG expectations and the necessary shift toward total supply chain transparency.

(L-R) Christine Zu, Aquatic Life Institute; Teresa Fernandez, Hilton Foods; Bertrand Charron, Aquaculture Stewardship Council; Esben Sverdrup-Jensen, DPPO; Miguel Ruano, SFP

Scaling the landscape approach to aquaculture will require a push from buyers

SFP Partnership Engagement Specialist David Parreño Duque participated in a panel, co-sponsored by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, that looked at the Roadmap for Landscape-Level Improvements in Aquaculture, developed by SFP and ASC based on two years of collaboration in the shrimp farming sector of Andhra Pradesh, India. The panelists agreed that building on this Roadmap and scaling for the future will require a market push by shrimp buyers to ensure that the landscape approach is applied in the field. They also discussed the need for data-sharing frameworks to avoid bottlenecks and ensure that market actors can see progress.