International Seafood Trade : Challenges and Opportunities - FAO/University of Akureyri Symposium 1-2 February 2007, Akureyri, Iceland

The meeting included a range of views regarding the risks and challenges inherent to the recent developments in international seafood trade with views from government officials, business representatives and academia.

The symposium highlighted that the seafood sector is extremely dynamic and is increasingly becoming a global sector.

Risks include the pressure of global demand on capture fisheries that are often overexploited, meeting the higher sanitary and phytosanitary requirements being set by the markets and the development of voluntary ecolabels.

Opportunities include better management of marine resources, further development of the aquaculture sector, advancement of technology to meet sanitary and phytosanitary requirements and enhancement of the value-added sector in developing countries.