On Wednesday 22 October SEA has organised the first meeting regarding the prospects of Seafood Promotion Act which would enable the industry to find a fair and equitable way to share the burden of seafood promotion both domestically and internationally. According to Seafood Services Australia, this will be followed by SEA’s Annual General Meeting.
* "We now have a plan for moving the industry forward in regards to promotion and marketing and we see this week as being the catalyst for the changes that are required" |
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Dr Ron Edwards, Chairman.
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In his Chairman’s Report for the AGM, Dr Ron Edwards, makes the following comments “Our industry needs to convey to the community and government a clear message that we are in the business of food security and that we do this in a sustainable way. We have allowed ourselves to be seen as a sub-set of the environment portfolio rather than as an industry that is an essential supplier of quality food.
In this context we are fighting off the back foot being forced to justify why we actually want to put quality seafood on to the plates of consumers. Yet ironically health professionals continually speak of the health benefits of regular consumption of seafood. In recognition of this SEA has adopted the 2 A Week Logo to promote healthy seafood. This follows negotiations by Roy Palmer, Executive Officer of SEA, with the United Kingdom Seafish Authority that allows SEA to use their very successful logo.”
“Australian industry has also contributed to the problem because we have been pre-occupied with resource access issues when in fact it is the post-harvest aspects of the industry which ensure profitability. Our attention to value adding has often been given second place to regular conflicts over resources.”
“We now have a plan for moving the industry forward in regards to promotion and marketing and we see this week as being the catalyst for the changes that are required,” Ron added.
The Seafood CRC is conducting its own Conference on Tuesday to bring all the participants up-to-date with all the major projects which are occurring and this will be followed by the Seafood CRC AGM in the afternoon. On Thursday NAC will be holding its own AGM and general meeting on Thursday.
Dr Edwards also commented: “SEA is keen to promote the Seafood Services Australia meetings in Brisbane on 6 and 7 November for the SSA Network and Seafood Access Forum activities”.