Through the support of the International Salmon Farmers Association (ISFA), Young Salmon Farmers of British Columbia (BC), Young Aquaculture Society and YoungFish have come together to create an alliance dedicated to uniting the next generation of young professional in the seafood industry and creating international opportunities for them. The Next Generation Seafood Alliance (NGSA) was presented in Bergen, Norway, at the annual YoungFish Conference.
The first phase of the new organization’s work will focus on supporting new regional seafood networks and involving young professionals from all over the world. The NGSA intends to empower young professionals by offering them all kinds of opportunities. We are looking to find more young professionals all over the globe who are shaping the future of seafood sector,” they said.
Promising young professional
The NGSA was formed as a result of an initiative taken by ISFA, an organization composed of national and regional salmon aquaculture associations from around the world. It was recently revealed that ISFA and the Next Generation Seafood Alliance signed a formal agreement on 1 December 2024.
In that sense, Jon Arne Grøttum, President of ISFA, said: “We have followed these young professional networks in our respective regions for a while and have seen how they foster community and activity for young people working in our industry.”
“We wanted to explore ways to support these efforts on a global scale, so we invited the three networks to join forces and develop a collaborative plan that ISFA could support. They drive a hard bargain, but after six months of deliberation, we are excited to announce that ISFA will support the Next Generation Seafood Alliance in its first phase,” he said.
Opportunities for young professionals
The network, which was more than a year in the making, will create an opportunity for young professionals to connect across borders, oceans and supply chain segments, to learn from each other and sector experts; to advocate for responsible seafood practices; to support coastal communities; to innovate thinking around the sector; and to give back the causes that are important to young professionals.
“Our mission is to empower younger generations by fostering enthusiasm, innovation, and visibility for our industry. We aim to cement seafood production as a key driver of future food systems and its role in the greater blue economy,” highlighted Janicke Eckhoff, President of NGSA.
“By connecting across borders and supply chain segments, and by harnessing our deep-rooted passion for the industry, we believe we can inspire new ways of thinking and fresh conversations while supporting responsible seafood production and coastal communities,” she added.
Driving positive change across the sector
The Next Generation Seafood Alliance is an international young professionals’ network that aim to organize and amplify the voices of the younger generation in the global seafood sector. “We’re excited to connect, collaborate, and drive positive change across the sector; this is just the beginning, and we can’t wait to see where this journey takes us”, they declared.
Another of their missions is to empower the younger generations in the seafood sector by helping them voice their experiences in and enthusiasm for the seafood sector. They are a global alliance of independent networks for young professional in the seafood industry. “We represent the next generation in the seafood industry”, they say.
Untapped ambassadors
For her part, Michelle Franze, co-founder and co-director of Young Salmon Farmers of BC, she said: “Young people are untapped ambassadors for the seafood sector and can tell the story of seafood in an authentic way because it is their everyday work,” said
“It’s important that we give a voice to the highly motivated and passionate young professionals, as we have many shared values globally on the potential of the seafood sector,” she said.
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