Alaska
Pavilion at European Seafood Exposition Stimulates Export
Sales for Producers
April 30, 2008. Juneau,
Alaska. The Alaska Pavilion at the world’s
top seafood trade show was a magnet for seafood traders
from all over the world. Interest in Alaska’s
wild seafood products was strong, and seafood traders
in the Alaska Pavilion at the European Seafood Exposition
(ESE) estimated $31 million on onsite sales and $125
million in projected sales for the ensuring year resulting
from the show. The Alaska Pavilion is sponsored by the
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI).
As illegal overfishing in some
parts of the globe is being scrutinized, and abundance
of many wild stocks around the world has declined, Alaska’s
sustainably managed seafood species are becoming more
widely appreciated. New materials developed by ASMI
for the show included brochures in English, French and
German on Alaska fisheries management and habitat conservation.
Buyers were interested in Alaska’s five species
of wild salmon, shellfish including three species of
crab, and whitefish varieties from black cod and Pacific
cod to Alaska pollock and halibut. There was a surprisingly
high level of excitement about salmon roe, as well.
Alaska seafood companies participating
in the Alaska Pavilion were: Trident Seafoods, Ocean
Beauty Seafoods, Palomino Foods, EE Foods, Northern
Keta Caviar, Pacific Seafoods, Peter Pan Seafoods, Intersea,
and Icy Strait Seafoods. In addition, over a dozen other
Alaska companies who did not have their own booths met
clients at the ASMI booth, as did newcomers 10th &
M Seafoods and Kwik’Pak, companies attending their
first European Seafood Exposition.
Alaska fisherman Kevin Adams,
a member of the ASMI board, worked hard at the ASMI
booth, attended conference sessions and gathered information.
A delegation of state senators from Alaska also participated,
taking in the trade show, associated conference sessions,
and meeting with U.S. Embassy officials. The officials
of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural
Service which administers the federal program that funds
the majority of ASMI’s international marketing
activities were appreciative of the interest shown by
the Alaska lawmakers in the ESE, Alaska’s most
important seafood show. Alaska’s legislature oversees
appropriations for the state’s seafood marketing
effort, and the Alaska senators all play a pivotal role
in that process.
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For more information please contact:
Laura Fleming, Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute,
lfleming@alaskaseafood.org,
1-800-478-2903, (907) 465-5563.
www.alaskaseafood.org
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