From November 5 through November 9, the 500 conference participants took in summarized global production and market data for shrimp and farmed fish, as well as unique views on strategic issues that reflected varied perspectives in different geographic regions and components of the seafood value chain.
Under the conference theme of "Global Challenges, Unified Solutions," speakers and panelists addressed issues from food safety to fishmeal. Traceability demonstrations and a presentation by Wal-mart's Peter Redmond helped Best Aquaculture Practices certification gain further credibility. One major point of consensus, as Tom Billy put forth in his presentation, was that consumers can't afford to miss out on the health benefits of seafood. A growing body of evidence indicates that a lack of adequate dietary seafood can be harmful to one's health.
For 2007, Outlook organizers will work on developing more consistent data collection based on global indicators that will help participants more accurately foresee shifts in production and pricing. A more complete report on GSOL and GFOL will be published on the GAA website and in the Global Aquaculture Advocate soon.
TheFishSite News Desk