Congress Schedule

Pre-Conference Thematic Workshops for Developing Countries, supported by:

• International Association of Fish Inspectors
• Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN
• United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
• CGIAR Worldfish

Themes to be addressed:

• Challenges of Market Access for Developing Countries (the Trade-Development Nexus, food safety and sustainability compliance)
• Strengthening contribution of aquatic products to nutritional and inclusive sustainable livelihoods (FAO school feeding programs linking small-scale fishers)
• Role of non-traditional products and technologies in development (seaweeds, molluscs, safe processing, gender inclusivity)
• Bridging the finance gap for small scale blue economy operators in developing countries

• Welcome Cocktail

Opening Session: Welcome and Keynote Addresses

• Department of Fisheries, Government of India
• International Association of Fish Inspectors
• Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN
• United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
• CGIAR Worldfish

Health hazards, safety and nutrition of seafood

• Balancing health costs and benefits of consumption
• Health risk assessment and risk management decision making in seafood safety
• Assessing risks and appropriate levels of protection
• Optimising nutritional benefits of fish and mollusc consumption for target populations
• Emerging, newly- and non-regulated food safety hazards (e.g. PFAs, mineral oil hydrocarbons)

Challenges in seafood regulation, inspection and control

• Regulatory trends and impacts on aquatic product trade and development
• Challenges in organisation and management of sanitary competent authorities for market access
• Dual standards - regulatory differences between export & domestic markets
• Innovation in food safety and inspection methods
• Remote audits, monitoring and inspection of seafood; role of AI and digitisation
• Traceability tools for improving safety in the supply chain
• Importer and retailer perspectives on supply chain integrity  

Assessing seafood safety and quality

• Detecting and preventing fish fraud
• Advances in laboratory methods for seafood testing
• Analytical tools in seafood traceability
• Indicators for seafood safety in the supply chain
• Challenges in fishmeal and animal feed safety

Carbon neutrality and the seafood sector

• Marine ingredients and the intersection of fisheries and aquaculture
• Energy accounting methods and carbon footprints in aquatic product supply chains
• Advances in energy efficiency (refrigeration technology and role of solar power)

Markets for Sustainability Certification and Sectoral Responses

• Safety and sustainability in certification systems - benchmarking and validation
• Market-led fisheries and aquaculture improvement programmes
• Role of certification bodies in enhancing social and environmental justice

Ethical dimension of seafood trade

• Measuring ethical content of seafood
• The demand for ethical products
• Sentience and welfare concerns in aquaculture and capture fisheries
• Stunning and slaughter methods and engineering solutions

Corporate social responsibility in seafood supply

• Society and development – understanding the links to seafood trade
• Trade impact potential of CSR legislation
• Organisational responses in implementing CSR in seafood operations; the Indian model
• Measuring CSR performance in the supply chain
• Audit procedures and impact assessment methodology for CSR interventions
• Retailer perspectives - ethical labelling and consumer information

Solutions to forced labour

• Typology and measurement of human rights violations in fisheries and aquaculture
• Human rights legislation, monitoring and enforcement in fisheries and aquaculture
• Approaches to better work and welfare improvement in the seafood business
• Port-focused and at-sea solutions for monitoring labour conditions
• Trafficking of labour in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors

• Congress Dinner
• Awards Ceremony

Seaweeds and macro/microalgae – blue food of the future

• Novel products and applications for seaweeds and macro/microalgae.
• Emerging technologies used in the production and processing of seaweeds and macro/microalgae.
• Market development for seaweeds and macro/microalgae for human and animal nutrition.
• Food safety risks in the consumption of seaweed and macro/microalgae.
• Environmental and social impacts of seaweeds and macro/microalgae production; organisational challenges

Markets and distribution trends in the shrimp and crustacean trade

• Impacts of tariffs and non-tariff barriers on trade patterns and socioeconomics of global shrimp sector
• Yields, quality and value addition; advances in processing technologies
• Anti-microbial resistance and managing the veterinary residue issues
• Impacts of aquaculture biosecurity measures (disease fee certification) on trade
• Links between forced labour and product safety in the supply chain

Science, processing technology and utilisation of aquatic products

• Innovation in Seafood Processing, packaging & distribution technology
• Optimising the economic utilisation of products from the aquatic environment
• Plant based seafood analogues and labelling challenges
• Challenges in the circular economy for fishery and aquaculture products
• Fishmeal and silage and animal feed processing technologies

• IAFI General Meeting

• Local Industry Visits