The final version of the III
Global Fishery Forum programme has been approved and published. The main
theme of GFF 2019 and plenary session is «Ocean
of Opportunities: Nature, Economy, and People», Ilya Shestakov, Deputy Minister of
Agriculture of Russia and Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries, said at a
TASS News Agency news conference on 28 June. German Zverev, Chairman of the Public Council of the
Federal Agency for Fisheries and President of the All-Russia Association of
Fisheries Enterprises, also took part in the news conference.
This will be the third time that the Forum is held in
St. Petersburg. Over this period, it has established itself as a unique
discussion platform that promotes development of interstate cooperation at the
level of the business and academic communities, and government authorities,
while also fostering solutions for further use of the World Ocean resources.
«The growing authority of the
Forum and Exhibition in Russia is important. We hope that we will soon be among
the biggest Seafood Expo events, which are held every year in Brussels, Qingdao
and Boston. At the same time, our event has the advantage of being unique in
also including a business forum. Indeed, preliminary figures and feedback
confirm that this format is in demand as the number of foreign exhibitors is
growing, new delegations are arriving and joint stands of foreign countries and
Russian regions are rising in number,» Ilya Shestakov said.
The participants will discuss the economic and social
development of territories in the context of the environmental approach to
managing fish stocks. Ministers of fishing powers, heads of regional fishery
organizations (NPAFC, ICES, NEAFC, CCAMLR), the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), representatives of government agencies,
leading transnational and Russian companies in the fishing sector and related
industries, eminent scientists, and experts in the field of marketing and
consulting will make presentations at the plenary session and key events of the
Forum.
The first roundtable
will be dedicated to digitalization of the fishing industry. It will focus on
opportunities for improving efficiency of production, control and reporting
through introduction of IT technologies, as well as the practice of other
countries, including as a tool for combating IUU fishing.
The importance of fishing industry marketing will be
addressed at the roundtable «How to Sell Fish Properly». It is planned to
reveal the conceptual aspects of shaping a fish consumption culture and to
consider tools for boosting demand based on other countries’ experience in
product promotion and successful enterprise examples.
Special attention will
be paid to research and development of the Arctic and Antarctica. With the
growing consumption of fish, the untapped potential of these water areas may
provide an additional catch volume. Issues of scientifically grounded and
rational use of Arctic and Antarctic stocks will be the subject of another
roundtable.
A lively discussion is
expected at the conference «Cost of the Fishing Industry: How to Assess the
Efficiency of the Business Use of the National Resource?» Russia is among the
top five leaders in industrial fishing. Our country has one of the most
effective systems of fishery regulation, foreign experts say. Even so, the
capitalization of the Russian fishing industry does not correspond to this
level. The Undercurrent news agency has been compiling a list of the biggest
fishing corporations by revenue for several years. The agency estimates that
only one Russian fishing company has made it into the top hundred players on
the global fish market. The participants will try to understand why and
forecast how the situation will develop.
«The Global Fishery
Forum is always a way to look to the future. This year, at the conference to be
held as part of the Forum, we will, as always, present our forecast of the key
annual financial indicators and explain our estimate of the industry’s
profitability: approximately RUB 360-365 bn, a profit growth of about 5% over
2018. We will try to answer how much the Russian fishing industry costs. I am
sure that the Forum events will be full of a lot of interesting information.
The Forum will take place just before our main professional holiday —
Fisherman’s Day. This will add warmth and sincerity to the discussions and
behind-the-scenes communication between all the participants,» German Zverev noted.
The specifics of the
fishing business, risk levelling, and issues of creating an effective
distribution chain will be at the centre of the roundtable discussion «Fish
Market Economics: Fishing, Processing, Logistics, and Retail».
One of the Forum’s most
pressing topics is the social sphere, which will be addressed at the roundtable
«Fisheries: Social Dimension as a Factor for the Development of Territories».
According to FAO official statistics, about 60 million people are employed in
the primary sector of industrial fishing and aquaculture (permanent, temporary
and odd jobs), including 19.3 million in aquaculture and 40.3 million in
fisheries. The participants will discuss whether fish-based single-industry
towns are capable of developing and what is required for creating a complete
social infrastructure in hard-to-reach regions and improving the working and
living conditions of fishermen. A logical continuation of this topic will be
the signing of a trilateral sectoral agreement on the sidelines of the Forum:
the agreement is between the Federal Agency for Fisheries, the All-Russia
Association of Employers in the Fishing Industry and Central Committee of the
Russian Trades Union of Fisheries Workers. The document addresses issues
related to social and labour relations and wages, vocational education,
occupational health protection and promotion of employment. The mechanisms for
its implementation will be discussed at the roundtable, too.
The programme also includes the topic of fish farming.
It is the aquaculture sector that has been responsible for the growth of world
fish production in recent decades. According to the FAO, aquaculture is part of
the economy in more than 200 countries and territories today. In 2016, world
aquaculture generated 80 million tonnes of food fish and 30.1 million tonnes of
aquatic plants. It produced 54.1 million tonnes of fish, 17.1 million tonnes of
shellfish, 7.9 million tonnes of crustaceans and 938,000 tonnes of other
aquatic organisms. China is the world’s leading aquaculture producer, not only
outperforming other countries, but also growing more fish than the rest of the
world since 1991. The biggest producers also include Bangladesh, Vietnam,
Egypt, India, Indonesia and Norway. In Russia, the share of fish farming is
still insignificant compared to the volume of industrial fishing: more than
230,000 tonnes have been produced with a catch level of 5.05 million tonnes.
The ways to develop this sector of the fish industry in the global and regional
context will be discussed at the roundtable «Unlocking the Potential of
Aquaculture in Russia and the World: Management, Resources, Markets».
A separate major block will be devoted to scientific
matters. On the second day of the Forum, a roundtable will be held on new ideas
and trends in the field of science, on which the dynamic development of
fisheries depends. In addition, Russian scholars will speak about research programmes
and the prospects for development of Arctic and Antarctic resources,
developments in aquaculture, and application of new digital technologies in
research work as part of other business programme events.
The 2019 International Exhibition of Fish Industry,
Seafood and Technology is also expected to see an increase in all indicators.
According to preliminary data, 335 companies from 30 regions of Russia and 25
countries will take part in the Exhibition, which is 34% more than last year.
The number of Russian exhibitors climbed 28% to 182 companies and the number of
foreign exhibitors jumped 42% to 150 companies.
The III
Global Fishery Forum and International Exhibition of Fish Industry, Seafood and
Technology (Seafood Expo Russia) will be held from 10 to 12 July 2019 in St.
Petersburg, at the ExproForum Convention and Exhibition Centre. The organizer
is the Federal Agency for Fisheries, the Forum’s Operator is the Roscongress
Foundation.
