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After the success of the 2013 European Tuna Conference, attended by more than 300 people from 44 nations, atuna.com will be hosting the 2015 European Tuna Conference on April 20th, in Brussels, Belgium.

This time, just like the last, the most important and current issues faced by the European tuna industry and beyond will be addressed. These include:

Changing Trade Flows

• The GSP+ status of the Philippines
• The yellow card and red card status for Sri Lanka
• What are the effects in terms of shifts in trade flows, volumes and prices?
• While tuna exporting nations are emerging, and which are falling behind?
• Which EU markets are growing?
• What is the impact of the ongoing economic crisis in the Southern part of Europe?

IUU

• EU’s leading role in sanctioning and warning nations that do not sufficiently monitor, control or report on their tuna fleet operations
• The US and Japan – expected to change policy soon
• Which tuna supplying nations are experiencing these problems? To what extent?
• Which countries are in the focus of authorities? What is being done?
• How do NGOs react on this?
• What are the risks that tuna importing companies, brands and retailers face, and how can these risks be managed?
• What measures are taken within the industry, by RFMOs, governments and NGOs to weed out IUU?

FADs And Eco-FADs

• Campaigns by Greenpeace against brands and retailers throughout the EU that stock and sell FAD caught skipjack and yellowfin canned tuna
• At all levels, discussions and development are ongoing to either ban, manage, control, or innovate FADs
• What are the developments in the alternative FAD-free supply – free school caught tuna, pole and line, and handline?

Investing In The Tuna Industry

• Issues such as IUU
• Social issues
• Investors and bankers
• Volatile prices becoming increasingly complex

Social Issues

• Social issues becoming increasingly important – child labor, slave labor, underpaid labor, bad circumstance on fishing boats
• Canneries brought to the news, spotlighted by action groups.
• How do we deal as an industry and as tuna buyers with these matters?

Stock Status

• What is the latest news on the status of the stocks in various oceans?
• Which conservation and catch reduction measures have recently been implemented and what is the outlook?

Global Tuna Fishing Overcapacity

• How many tuna purse seiners and longliners are currently active globally?
• What impact has the rapid expansion of these fleets had on stocks over the last five years?

Price And Market Developments

• What is causing the spikes, but also the recent falls in global skipjack, yellowfin and albacore prices?
• Which trends can we identify?
• What has been the effect of the global oil prices on the cost of vessels and traded tuna prices ex-fishing grounds?