ICFA launches seafood coalition website after 40 years

The International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (ICFA) has launched its first website, fishcoalition.org. ICFA, formed in 1988, is a collective of national fish and seafood industry associations from the world’s major fishing nations which provides decision-makers with a unified voice on global issues. 

“While ICFA has been around for almost 40 years, it has always been a deliberative industry body with deep ties to the UN and a heavy emphasis on global policy. We didn’t really have the need for a public presence on the web. But with biodiversity negotiations, treaties, and resolutions that require so much stakeholder input these days we decided to make our resources and voice more public,” said Paul Lansbergen, chair of ICFA and president of the Fisheries Council of Canada.  

The coalition comprises 24 seafood industry associations from Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Latin America. ICFA participates in the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Committee on Fisheries, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, among others. 

“Our achievements and priorities are spelled out and it’s a new platform for us to engage with industry voices who we might not have heard from. Not to put too fine a point on it but, watch this space,” said Lansbergen.