Air of optimism as major Brussels show opens – Fishupdate.com
Air of optimism as major Brussels show opens Published: 22 April, 2008
THE world’s biggest seafood exhibition opened in Brussels today amid renewed optimism for the industry’s future.
The European Seafood Exposition (ESE) and Seafood Processing Europe (SPE) together form a truly international event, with over 1,800 visitors from 87 countries due to showcase their wares.
The show was already busy this morning, with exhibitors reporting that they are expecting good trade.
The Dutch Fish Marketing Board held a press breakfast this morning which featured a number of presentations from Dutch industry figures. Issues on the agenda included new developments in catching technology, accreditation and sustainability. It emerged that while sustainability is a big issue in The Netherlands, with a major push towards Marine Stewardship Council accreditation being made, it is not yet a major issue in some other parts of Europe. One retailer told FISHupdate that Italian consumers are not yet overly concerned with the issue of sustainability.
Tomorrow, Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond will officially launch an “invaluable” web-based seafood information tool for European seafood buyers, retailers, consumers and journalists.
It has been developed by Seafood Scotland (SFS) with financial assistance from government and national agencies, to provide the seafood supply chain with up to date information on the most important commercial fish stocks for the Scottish fishing industry.
Its translation into French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Russian, will help European buyers to understand that in choosing seafood from Scotland, they are making an environmentally sound buying choice, SFS says.
The Brussels show runs until Thursday and is being held at the Parc des Expositions.
www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.