Almost 300 industry leaders, seafood professionals and academics took up residence in the historic fishing town to hear from 94 speakers on issues including sustainability, trade, ethics and industry skills, with new findings and reports revealed exclusively to the congress’ delegates.
Highlights from some of the 50 sessions that took place included addresses from Liv Holmefjord, the Norwegian fisheries minister, Timothy Hansen, president of IAFI and Dr Paul Williams, chief executive of Seafish, the UK industry authority that hosted this year’s event.
Over the course of the congress, delegates were also welcomed to a number of evening events, including a Seafood Fayre displaying the finest local produce and a Gala Dinner held at the Humber Royal Hotel, during which famed explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, was guest speaker.
On the final day of the event, Reykjavík, Iceland was announced as the host city for the 2017 congress.
Matís, the Icelandic government-owned research company for the food and biotechnology industries will play host, and the theme will be ‘Growth in the Blue Bioeconomy’.
Dr Paul Williams, chief executive at Seafish commented: “This year’s congress was a great success and we’re pleased to have been able to host this global and significant event at the heart of the British seafood industry, Grimsby. The congress provided the perfect opportunity to celebrate the city’s fishing heritage and all that the North Lincolnshire region has to offer our industry today.
“The feedback we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive and we hope that all who attended gained something from the event, whether that’s greater insight into the key issues affecting the sector or strengthened relationships with international colleagues.”
