April 27, 2022

GSA's GOAL 2022 to be held in Seattle, Washington, US, in early October

The 21st edition of the Global Seafood Alliance's (GSA) signature event, GOAL: The Responsible Seafood Conference, will be held at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle, Washington, the United States, on October 3-6, the nonprofit organization announced on April 21.

The in-person event was scheduled to be held at The Okura Hotel in Tokyo, Japan, on October 24-27, but pandemic-associated travel restrictions made holding an in-person event in Japan impractical.

"While we are disappointed that GOAL will not be held in Tokyo this year, we are excited that GOAL is returning to the United States for the first time in 13 years, when GOAL 2009 was held in Seattle," said GSA chief executive officer Brian Perkins. "We chose Seattle because it fits ideally with GSA's budding involvement in wild-capture fisheries with the rebrand from the Global Aquaculture Alliance to the Global Seafood Alliance last year, and Seattle has a rich fishing tradition."

Perkins added: "Nothing can replace the value of the connections made at in-person events. We're really looking forward to gathering with our associates in-person again."

GOAL has a 21-year history of convening seafood thought leaders from across the globe. Originally called the Global Shrimp Outlook for Leadership, the first event was held in Singapore in 2001.

The event was rebranded as the Global Outlook for Aquaculture Leadership (GOAL) in 2008 and again in 2020 as GOAL: The Responsible Seafood Conference when wild-capture fisheries, ocean health and climate change began to be incorporated into the conference programme. GOAL has been held in 18 cities in four continents since 2001.

Today, GOAL consists of a series of virtual events highlighted by a three-day in-person event in the fall. Although the in-person event has grown from fewer than 100 attendees in 2001 to upward of 500 today, the mission remains the same — to provide a pre-competitive space for seafood changemakers to put day-to-day business aside to learn, network and socialise.

The world’s leading retail and foodservice seafood buyers are well represented at GOAL, whether virtual or in-person. Buyers play a key role in influencing seafood production practices through their corporate social responsibility policies and associated sourcing specifications.

GSA is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Seattle is where GSA was formed in February 1997, at a World Aquaculture Society meeting.

- GSA