The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) will address more than 400 delegates at the annual Seafood Futures Forum during Seafood Expo Global 2018 in Brussels. Panellists at the event include representatives from Sainsbury’s, NOMAD Foods Europe, Pew Charitable Trusts and the Norwegian Fisheries Association.
Through the lens of UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14), discussion will focus on how to balance the need to live within our oceans’ ecological limits, while ensuring seafood supplies are safeguarded for this and future generations.
The keynote speech will be delivered by Ally Dingwall of Sainsbury’s. He will discuss how one of the UK’s leading supermarket chains can provide a commercially viable seafood offer and set their own sustainability goals, while incorporating international targets such as the SDGs and taking stakeholder concerns into account.
Following the keynote speech is the panel discussion — titled “Fit for the future? How the MSC can stay the course” — featuring representatives from the different stakeholder groups that that the MSC works with. The panel will be moderated by independent advisor and GAA Director, Melanie Siggs. Topics for discussion will include how industry and NGOs can best work together to tackle overfishing, the eradication of IUU, how to minimise impacts on marine ecosystems, how to promote and encourage science-led management, and the role of the MSC. Panellists include:
Annelie Selander – Nomad Foods Europe
Annelie Selander, Group Sustainability Director for Nomad Foods Europe, has 15 years of experience in the food industry, working for international companies like Nomad Foods and Nestle. She has a passion for developing strong and trusted brands, mostly on a regional or local basis, but lately on pan-European scale. With one foot in marketing and one in product development, she finds the area of sustainability to be the most critical, interesting but also challenging for the food industry for the future.
Tor Bjørklund Larsen – Norwegian Fisheries Association
Tor Bjørklund Larsen has worked as a Sustainability Advisor for the Norwegian Fisherman's Association since 2014. He manages sustainability efforts of the Norwegian fishing industry on behalf of the NFA, Norwegian Seafood Council and Norwegian fish sales organisations. This includes managing Norwegian MSC certified fisheries as well as potential new certifications.
Amanda Nickson – The Pew Charitable Trusts
Amanda Nickson, Director International Fisheries, directs Pew’s efforts to improve the conservation of tuna populations in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans through science-based policy development and advocacy. Nickson joined Pew in 2010 to lead advocacy efforts with regional fisheries management organizations and to address the overfishing of valuable marine species in international waters and help conserve these species and protect the ocean environment.
Ally Dingwall – Sainsbury’s
Ally Dingwall is Aquaculture and Fisheries Manager at Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd and is a member of Sainsbury's Agriculture Team with responsibility for cross-category fish sourcing policy. He represents Sainsbury's within a number of fora including Fisheries Innovation Scotland, IFFO RS, Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative, Sustainable Seafood Coalition and Global Ghost Gear Initiative.
The panel is set to be a lively discussion watched with interest from those in the room and online, with audience members able to ask a question to the MSC and its panel both live and ahead of the event. The Seafood Futures Forum takes place in the Brussels Expo Centre, Wednesday, 25 April from 9:00-10:30 CET. Find out more and register (to attend in person or online) at msc.org/brussels.