World Seafood Congress 2019: Malaysian NGO WorldFish opens Egyptian seafood innovation hub

PENANG, Malaysia — Undercurrent News is reporting live from the World Seafood Congress in Penang, Malaysia, from Sept. 9 – 11

Thai Union Group, one of the world’s largest seafood companies, is hopeful that the successful traceability pilot run by its Thai vessels will now be adopted by other similar developing fisheries around the world.

Inmarsat’s ‘Fleet One’ terminals, first installed on Thai Union vessels in June 2017, have proven to be a big hit with fishermen and their families, allowing for them to contact home or workers on other boats while at sea.

The terminals, installed in a partnership with Mars Petcare, also provide real-time catch data from the vessels to central monitoring authorities.

Although she was unfortunately unable to attend WSC 2019, Thai Union sustainability director Darian Mcbain sent a video presentation in her stead, saying: “We have increased hope that the pilot project can improve situations not just in Thailand, but in global fishing industries.”

“It will assure traceability and set a new standard for the seafood supply chain, and if successful, could be transformational for the seafood industry overall.”

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been advancing its Blue Growth Initiative in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, with 21 countries now involved in the seafood development project, according to Xiangjun Yao, regional program manager for the FAO regional office for Asia and the Pacific.

Yao told attendees that of the world’s top 30 fish-consuming nations, 22 are classed as ‘low-income-food-deficit nations’. 

In 2018, these developing countries earned $76 billion in fish exports, more than all other agricultural commodities combined.

With many of these countries over-reliant on their fisheries, it has contributed considerably to over-fishing in these regions — the FAO estimates that off the coast of North Africa, for instance, as much as 62% of fisheries are overfished.

To help these areas to develop sustainably, the FAO has embarked on its Blue Growth Initiative, implementing a code of conduct in those areas where NGO intervention is required. The initiative is split into three segments: Blue Communities, Blue Production, and Blue Trade.

In its Caribbean projects, the initiative is “focused primarily on increasing volumes of fish for local consumption by small- and medium- scale aquaculture and aquaponics,” Yao said.

Elsewhere, the Blue Growth Initiative is working with fish and seaweed farmers in Bangladesh, Kribati, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, helping them to produce food more efficiently and market it more effectively; while in Africa, 13 countries are part of the initiative, which is focused on improving the sustainable use of marine resources in the wake of mass population growth and rapid climate change, Yao said.

The Malaysia-based NGO WorldFish has opened the ‘Fish for Africa Innovation Hub’ in Egypt this summer, a site designed to foster co-operation between researchers and policy-makers in the country.

Speaking at the World Seafood Congress, WorldFish director general Gareth Johnstone said the new hub “will offer both physical and virtual space that brings together policy-makers and researchers to develop sustainable solutions that will enable aquaculture to grow across the continent.”

WorldFish has reportedly been active in Egypt since 1998, and the organization helped to develop the ‘genetically improved farmed tilapia’ (GIFT) strain for the region, Johnstone said. GIFT grows 50% faster than standard tilapia, he noted, adding that farmed tilapia is now “cheaper than chicken” in the country.

With Africa’s population expected to double by 2050, Johnstone said the majority of the additional seafood demand was likely to be met by wild-catch fisheries, although aquaculture “has a significant part to play in lowering the burden on land-based food production.”

WorldFish, which has now been operating out of Penang for the past 20 years, is part of the Consultative Group for Agricultural Research (CGAR) and is the only member to focus on fish production.

Earlier this year, the NGO also produced a foresight study predicting the future trends of seafood in Africa, which can be seen here.

With rising incomes and an ever more rampant demand for seafood, Malaysia is reportedly switching its focus ever more to aquaculture to meet requirements.

The country has the highest seafood consumption per capita in all of Asia, according to Sim Tze Tzin, the country’s deputy minister of Agriculture and Agro-based industry.

Last year, Malaysia’s fishery sector produced 1.47 million metric tons of seafood, while 427,000t of seafood was grown by the country’s aquaculture sector.

Malaysia therefore ranks 16th and 15th in the world for each, respectively.

However, overexploitation is becoming a severe issue on the western shores around Penang, and as a result, the government has begun investing further in aquaculture to meet the demand deficit.

The country’s aquaculture sector is growing at an annual rate of 4.6%, according to Penang chief minister, Chow Kon Yeow.

“Penang has the potential to become a centre for fisheries and aquaculture R&D, producing value-added products,” said Yeow, noting the city’s advanced infrastructure and airport.

The state’s government is aiming to modernize its aquaculture production under the city’s ‘2030 vision’ project, the minister added.

The 2019 World Seafood Congress (WSC), starting today, has said the key focus of this year’s event will be around sustainable supply chains, a hot button topic for governments and NGOs battling illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU) in South East Asia at present.

As such, the program has been arranged around 12 central themes, grouped around the topics of innovation, responsibility and sustainability. According to the event’s website, major issues on the agenda include the rise of digitalization, developing future global seafood leaders and finding a balance between business profitability and resource sustainability.

The event — held in Asia for the very first time this year — has been organized by the state government, the Penang Convention Bureau, and the Penang Institute. 41 countries will be represented at the event.

Speaking at the previous event in 2017, the team said it hopes WSC 2019 will open the door to further Asian hosts of the event in the future.

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