Shaping a Responsible Future: Reflections from the Responsible Seafood Summit 2024 from Donna Fordyce

This blog post was written by Donna Fordyce, Chief Executive of Seafood Scotland. We thank Seafood Scotland for co-hosting the 2024 Responsible Seafood Summit in St Andrews, Scotland, alongside GSA.

A few weeks on from the Responsible Seafood Summit, I still feel like I’m catching my breath. It truly was a phenomenal event; a whirlwind of activities, field trips and presentations all focussed on one single goal: making the seafood industry more sustainable for future generations.

The passion and conviction were palpable, and it filled me with joy because I genuinely believe that the Scottish seafood industry can play a leading role in driving global best practice.

As a co-host of the event, alongside Global Seafood Alliance, you might expect me to say that.  So, I did a bit of digging to find out what others have said about the Summit – unprompted, I should add!

Better together

Jon Gunnarsson, engineer at Marel Fish, noted “the event provided valuable insights and allowed us to nurture relationships within the industry.”

Along the same lines, representatives from MRAG Americas felt the summit “was an opportunity to catch up with old friends and colleagues and make new ones …. focused on bridging the differences and nurturing the commonalities between aquaculture and fisheries.”

Building relationships are key to a sustainable future for the seafood industry. It requires us to make big changes, predicated on collaboration and trust.

That’s why it’s so important that events like the Responsible Seafood Summit continue. As a community, we’re better together. We learn from each other and get more done when we sit in a room together. There’s something about being face to face that makes the conversation even more valuable and relationships lasting.

Trixie Betz, Outreach and Development Specialist at Maine Aquaculture Association, said she enjoyed “having conversations about the future of farmed and wild seafood.” These conversations, she noted, helped her “gain valuable perspective on the importance of increasing aquaculture production to address food insecurity.”

Similarly, the field trips proved an invaluable experience to help people see the full scale of the industry. Many attendees were provided with a rare, behind-the-scenes look at Scotland’s seafood production, highlighting the innovative and sustainable practices that drive the sector. Gunnarsson reflected on the experience, saying, “It was an absolute pleasure to attend the field strips especially to JK Thomson that proudly display Marel Fish machinery and Marel software to control the factory. When the Haddock is too small for regular processing they think in solutions.”

Continuing innovation

One of the highlights of the summit, for me, was seeing people come together from across the spectrum of our industry.

Bringing seafood to people’s plates takes more than fishers, processors, and sellers. We rely on technology companies, on truck drivers, on scientists – the list is endless.

It’s a fact Tom Rossiter, cofounder of CatchCam Technologies is well-aware of. A highlight for him was that “the Summit was full of people working to make seafood more sustainable, ethical, and nutritious. The aquaculture sector is already using technology and big data to drive these small (yet potentially huge) improvements.”

Trixie Betz recognised the importance of this, adding she “enjoyed meeting others working in a broad range of sectors.”

A new perspective

With so many people across the seafood industry in one place, attendees were able to gain insight into topics they hadn’t really considered before.

Laure Boissat, Senior ESG Analyst at FAIRR Initiative, gained a new understanding of “how fish welfare and human welfare go hand-in-hand” and gave an example: “Ace Aquatec showed how effective stunning methods help with staff motivation and retention.”

For me, the opportunity to sit down with other stakeholders of the fledgling Scottish Seafood Ocean Cluster was invaluable. Following the lead of the Iceland Ocean Cluster team, we’re trying to bring a new understanding of what was previously deemed “fish waste” to the sector. The potential of these new side stream opportunities is tremendously exciting.

These critical discussions are precisely why events like the Responsible Seafood Summit are so important. They provide a forum for diverse stakeholders – industry leaders, innovators, NGOs, and academics – to come together, share insights, and develop solutions for the future of the industry.

We may not all agree on every aspect of the industry, it is in these collaborative spaces that we find the collective will to drive real, meaningful change.

Don’t miss out on the experience of connecting with other seafood professionals at next year’s event. Join the email list to be among the first notified about the 2025 Responsible Seafood Summit!