Measures in place in both established and developing economies across the world, including the US, the EU and Africa, will be dissected as part of the programme.
A delegation from National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA), part of the United States department of commerce, will present a series of talks on trade and legislation from a US perspective, including a discussion led by keynote speaker Timothy Hansen, president at IAFI.
Stephane Vrignaud, fisheries representative to the European Union at NOAA, will discuss trade issues present among US trade fisheries on the opening day. Following this, Russell Smith, deputy assistant secretary for international fisheries at NOAA, will analyse US President Barack Obama’s taskforce on IUU and seafood fraud on the congress’ second day.
Joining them from the EU will be Ivan Bartolo, regulatory affairs advisor at Seafish - the UK industry authority hosting the event - who will examine developments in food safety legislation and the impacts of importing seafood into the EU. Michael Walker, consultant at Local Government Chemist, will outline the UK government seafood safety programme and the EU controls in place to prevent seafood fraud.
Discussing regulation from the perspective of African nations will be Fanuel Kapute from the United Nations University Fisheries Training Programme in Malawi, while views from an emerging seafood market will be shared by Dr Sevin Kose from the Karadeniz Technical University in Turkey.
Commenting on the programme, Ivan Bartolo of Seafish said: “The seafood sector is governed by a number of ever-changing legal and regulatory measures, so it’s important that those at the forefront of the industry understand these policies to ensure they are operating in a legal, ethical and sustainable manner.
“Events like the WSC offer an arena for industry members to gain a greater understanding of the issues at play and learn more about the changes affecting their business and territories across the world. This is particularly valuable for developing economies, where access to information on EU and US legislation may be limited.”
Registration for the congress is open and interested parties can sign up at: http://www.wsc2015.com/
