Recently Clare Winkel attended the World Seafood Congress 2019 in Penang Malaysia. 41 countries were represented to discuss innovation, responsibility, and sustainability for the future, under the conference theme of Seafood Supply Chains of the Future. This conference occurs every 2 years somewhere around the world, in a location usually closely related to the seafood industry. Previous conferences have been at Reykjavik in Iceland, St Johns in Newfoundland & Sydney Australia. The conference is organised by the International Association of Fish Inspectors (IAFI). Clare has been a member since her first conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1999. Clare was very involved in the organisation for the 2007 conference in Dublin, Ireland.  The next World Seafood Congress will be held in 2021 in the city of Peniche, Portugal.

That’s Clare on stage as part of the final World Seafood Congress 2019 wrap up- along with fellow Australians, Jayne Gallagher (first female IAFI President) & Mark Boulter (most recent past IAFI president). Was a busy few days as  Clare, presented on TACCP (Threat Assessment within the seafood industry), moderated a session (Consumer Protection & Food Safety), judged the poster competition & was part of the final Congress wrap up. Then she was promoted from the South Pacific Regional Representative onto the Executive Board of IAFI (International Assoc of Fish Inspectors).  Additionally another project Clare has been working on during 2019 (the risk of Salmonella in the consumption of raw fish products) was presented by Jasmine Lacis-Lee from DTS Food labs in Brisbane.

At each conference a number of awards are given out including the following:

-The poster competition judged by the IAFI board members, with cash prizes sponsored by IAFI.

-Outstanding contributions to the seafood industry deserve to be acknowledged. Nominations can come from anyone and based on their contributions to research achievements, industry or equipment development, patents and achievements in the application of safety and quality systems, training and training development in any seafood related profession, and other areas which positively affected the seafood and fishing industry.

-The Peter Howgate Award which funds the attendance of a young fish technologist to the World Seafood Congress 2019, a career-changing opportunity to gain insights and build networks within the global fishery sector. Persons under the age of 30 are eligible for the Award. For more information, please visit the official Peter Howgate Award website.

–Women in Seafood Video Award: winners will be awarded cash prizes of up to 1000 Euro and a ticket to the Congress. Video submissions must be in a short film format, less than 4 minutes long, and feature a woman involved in the seafood industry. For more information, please visit the Women in Seafood website.

The Peter Howgate award for 2019 had 2 winners, that presented a number of times during the conference:

-“Crab Industry in India – an overview” by Justin Sundarrajan, Newport International’s Quality Control Consultant – India.
-“Official Controls, Constraints, Opportunities and the Future plans for the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector in Uganda”
Stella Mbabazi, Department of Fisheries Resources inspector for the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries – Uganda.

Clare has previously (2013) won an award for her Outstanding contributions to the seafood industry with regard to training.

Here are some links to the 2019 conference  https://wsc2019.com  & https://www.facebook.com/wsc2019/

Here is the link to the IAFI website http://www.iafi.net/

Feel free to email Clare with any questions about this World Seafood Congress or the next one in 2021 in Portugal.