At the end of February, Sr. D. Abel Caballero, Mayor of Vigo, and Sr. D. Alfonso Paz-Andrade, President of the Organising Committee of the World Fishing Exhibition, signed a Pledge of Collaboration between the Town Hall and the Executive Committee of the World Fishing Exhibition, which will be held in Vigo from the 16th-19th September 2009.
Dña. Elena Espinosa, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Dña. Carmen Gallego, Councillor of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, and D. Santiago Dominguez, Deputy Mayor of Vigo, all attended the signing of the Pledge of Collaboration.
Alfonso Paz-Andrade explained that the announcement of WFE '09 is the result of months of work and moves made by the Mayor himself to ensure that Vigo will once again play host to the most important fishing exhibition in the world. He went on to say that “the WFE is coming to Vigo at a crucial time for the fishing industry which is facing an ever-increasing demand for its fish. It is having to be much more resourceful regarding management and exploitation of the oceans and must be more selective and efficient, using methods which are both environmentally sound and which guarantee the sustainability of the industry in social, economical and biological terms.”
Mr Paz-Andrade added that “fishing catches total 86 million tons and aquaculture produces about 46 million tons; nevertheless, these levels are insufficient to meet the ever-increasing demand for marine protein which results in IUU fleets operating unscrupulously. In this context a new and environmentally committed and responsible fishing industry has emerged...of the 47 million people dependent on fishing, 89% are Asians. If these workers are not taken into account, we are failing to express our recognition, humanitarianism and solidarity with these people: this will be the spirit of the Exhibition.”
Dña Elena Espinosa, who was a member of the Executive Committee at WFE '91 and WFE '97, announced Governmental willingness to support the 2009 exhibition as well as the Fisheries Ministers Conference to be held in parallel, which will receive collaboration from the FAO in its aims towards ensuring the sustainability of the fishing industry. She considers that the WFE is a “great opportunity to show Spain's work in tackling IUU fishing” and suggested “raising the question of fisheries and climatic change at the Ministers Conference.”
The stage for WFE will be set for four days of business and negotiation. At the last show all records were beaten in terms of participation, visits and most importantly, business achieved. 800 companies from 80 countries took stands and professional visitors were numbered at around 70,000. There were more national stands taken in 2003 than ever before from Cuba, Denmark, Spain, France, Holland, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Italy, Norway, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Sweden. Institutional stands were taken by the Regional Fishing Ministries from Galicia and Andalusia, associations such as FROM, FAO, EU Director General of Fisheries, The Spanish Agency for International Co-operation and the Association of Maritime Industries from the Basque Country. Companies were able to talk to businessmen visiting from Iran, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea and even Australia.
For more information regarding WFE '09, please contact:
Maria Rybak, Sales Manager, World Fishing Exhibition
Email: mrybak@worldtradeexhibitions.com
Tel: +44 1329 820495
José Osuna Andrade, General Manager, World Fishing Exhibition Vigo 2009
Email: josuna@worldfishingexhibition.com
Tel: +(34) 986 447 485
www.worldfishingexhibition.com
