Seafood events around the globe cancelled as coronavirus fears spread

A number of prominent seafood shows and events have been cancelled or postponed due to the spreading fear of the coronavirus. The virus, officially named COVID-19, which emerged in the south east Chinese city of Wuhan was initially thought to have been contained within the country but has since showed a spread to most parts of the world with South Korea, Iran, and  Italy hit particularly hard. Diversified Communications announced that the Seafood Expo North America, or the Boston Seafood Show’, taking place in mid-March would be postponed to, hopefully, later in 2020 as health, safety, travel restrictions, and logistics would be a concern. The announcement was followed some days later by another postponing their other show, the world’s biggest seafood event, Seafood Expo Global, to a date to be announced on 18 March (after Eurofish Magazine went to press). The Aquafeed Horizons 2020 conference taking place at the end of March and INFOFISH’s biannual event, World Tuna, at the end of May, both taking place in Bangkok have also been cancelled. The Regional Fisheries Conference ‘Market Opportunities and Challenges’ to be held in Gdynia at the end of March, organised by EUROFISH and the Polish Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation has also been postponed. Hopefully the seafood economy will recover rapidly from these setbacks and make up for lost opportunities as the threat of the virus recedes.

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