The 2021 Infofish World Tuna Trade Conference & Exhibition is approaching. The event will take place virtually (from May 19 to 21) due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which forced the Bangkok 2020 edition to be postponed to this year. The three-day virtual conference will cover topics ranging from stock status to technology developments.

There will be two sessions held each day and on the first, attendees will learn of industry updates. These will cover the pandemic, trade wars, and a sustainability and social accountability assembly. The second day will have a retail market session that will discuss e-commerce, and another on technological innovations. Finally, on May 21, the event will focus on the themes of sustainable tuna stocks and resource management. The conference will close with an online exhibitors’ showcase.

The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food is confident that the first edition of Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona will take off. Last year, the vast majority of tuna and seafood trade shows were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The third edition of Atuna’s Americas Tuna Conference was one of the few to take place in person in February 2020.

However, with vaccinations rolling out and with over a year of practice with virtual events, trust in trade shows is growing. The Spanish Ministry has ratified and modified an agreement signed last year with the aquaculture group Acuiplus so that it can take part in the upcoming event either in person or virtually. The event is scheduled to take place from September 7 to 9, 2021 

Malaysian tuna ports are not as competitive as others in the Indian Ocean region, said Dr Ronald Kiandee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries (MAFI). Currently, tuna is being landed in the harbors of Penang and Langkawi. He said that the government is reviewing the development of another tuna port, the Batu Maung Jetty, to boost this sector. Malaysia has been trying to boost the industry for decades.

The country has a total of 19 tuna fishing vessels and one carrier operating in the IO. In 2020, Penang Port recorded 1,943 M/T of tuna worth MYR 28 million (USD 6.7 million), reported Bernama. Malaysia has more landings of neritic tuna such as tongol and kawakawa than skipjack. According to IOTC, its vessels caught around 87,400 M/T of neritic tuna in 2019 within its EEZ in 2019.