Wild Alaska Pollock Annual Gathering to Explore Evolving International Marketplace

SEATTLE, Wash.— Registration is now open for the sixth annual gathering of the Wild Alaska Pollock industry for its Annual Meeting on September 26th at the W Hotel Seattle, the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) announced today. Themed “Harvesting Opportunity in an Unprecedented Global Marketplace,” the meeting will once again bring together industry leaders throughout the Wild Alaska Pollock fishery for a one-day meeting to look forward, collaborate and learn from distinguished speakers during a jam-packed agenda.

“It is a dynamic time for our fish and fishery but more broadly for the world which is experiencing unprecedented change at a rapidly evolving pace,” said Craig Morris, GAPP Chief Executive Officer. “Our meeting this year will focus on how we as an industry can ‘harvest’ every opportunity and how we can navigate these increasingly complex global geopolitics for our advantage and our industry’s sustained growth.”

The meeting will once again feature a variety of dynamic speakers including invited keynote speaker U.S. Department of Agriculture Under-Secretary for Trade Alexis Taylor as well as several invited Alaska and Washington Senators and Congresspersons.

This year’s Title Sponsor for the event is USI Insurance Services. For the third year, Seafood News’ Managing Editor Amanda Buckle will serve as the event’s Master of Ceremonies.

“We’re excited that Amanda’s incredible energy and passion for all things seafood will once again grace our stage,” said Morris. “Amanda brings not only incredible insight and hard-hitting questions to our panels and speakers but helps to drive us to compile the most robust agenda possible. We’re grateful for her involvement in our meeting for a third year.”

Data will continue to drive many sessions planned for this year’s Annual Meeting, as it has in meetings past. GAPP’s Director, Industry Relations, Partnerships & Fishery Analysis, Ron Rogness, will once again provide a Fishery and Trade Update to start the meeting, building off GAPP’s monthly trade and market reports and providing attendees an in-depth analysis on the economics and market conditions for Wild Alaska Pollock.

Also returning to the stage this year will be Urner Barry’s Angel Rubio, who will present an in-depth analysis of global surimi supply and demand. As always, GAPP will also unveil its year-over-year consumer data and insights, a study conducted every year by Ketchum Analytics to understand the U.S. consumers’ perception of Wild Alaska Pollock and key issues driving seafood demand across the country. Mary Elizabeth Germaine and Lauren Hasse, of Ketchum, will once again present these hot-off-the-presses results to attendees and help them understand what the results mean for Wild Alaska Pollock sales in the future.

“Data drives everything we do at GAPP and for that reason it is a critical part of our Annual Meeting,” said Morris. “One of GAPP’s leading roles for the industry is to help assess current and future consumer demand, global trends and opportunities for our fish and data underpins all of that. We’re excited to provide those results and expert analysis at our meeting again this year.”

For the first time, the event will be held at the W Hotel in downtown Seattle and will run from 8:30am – 5:00pm with an evening reception to immediately follow. Registration is available here for those wishing to register to attend the Wild Alaska Pollock Annual Meeting either in-person or virtually. GAPP’s annual meeting is exclusively for those connected to the Wild Alaska Pollock fishery and registration is subject to approval by GAPP.

GAPP would like to thank its current sponsors: USI Insurance Services (Title); Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute and Global Seas (Gold); American Seafoods, Beck Pack Systems, NORPEL, Rabobank, and Trident Seafoods (Silver); Ag West Farm Credit, Alaska Marine Lines, HighLiner Foods, Íslandsbanki, Lafferty’s EMS, Lucky Louie Fish Shack, and Parker, Smith & Feek (Bronze); Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, Angulas-Aguinaga, Bank of America, Frontier Packaging, Global Seafood Alliance, Neptune Snacks, and Restaurant Depot (Supporting).