Verifish_logo

VeriFish–FishEUTrust Final Event Concludes with a Strong Public Conference in Brussels

On 11 March 2026, the VeriFish–FishEUTrust Final Event concluded in Brussels with a full-day public conference bringing together stakeholders from across the seafood sector. Researchers, policymakers, industry representatives, NGOs, and advisory bodies gathered to discuss how sustainability in fisheries and aquaculture can be better understood, measured and communicated.

Held at Comet Louise in Brussels, the event welcomed participants both in person and online, creating a lively forum for dialogue around the central question: what makes seafood truly sustainable?

Opening the Dialogue

The conference opened with remarks from the European Commission, followed by an introduction to the two Horizon Europe projects by Sara Pittonet (Trust-IT Services), coordinator of VeriFish, and Nives Ogrinc (Jožef Stefan Institute), coordinator of FishEUTrust. Together they highlighted the complementary objectives of the projects: improving the transparency of seafood sustainability information and strengthening trust between producers, markets and consumers.

Environmental Sustainability of Seafood

The first session explored environmental indicators for fisheries and aquaculture. Short introductory pitches were delivered by Ixai Salvo (Eurofish International Organisation) for VeriFish and Natalie Rizzo (Technical University of Denmark – DTU) for FishEUTrust.

The discussion was moderated by Michelle Boonstra (Clupea) and brought together a diverse panel including:

  • Alessandro Manghisi – Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC)
  • Anne Marie Cooper – International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)
  • Carlos Mendoza – SmartWater Planet
  • Ixai Salvo – Eurofish International Organisation
  • Natalie Rizzo – DTU

The panel examined how environmental indicators can help provide more reliable and comparable information on seafood sustainability.

What Seafood Brings to Our Diets

The second session focused on the nutritional dimension of seafood. An introductory presentation by Sian Astley (EuroFIR) highlighted the importance of reliable food composition data and the role of seafood in healthy diets.

Chaired by Paul Finglas (EuroFIR), the panel included:

  • Anton Ellenbroek – FAO Consultant
  • Stephanos Cherouvis – Ecsite
  • Narcisa Bandara – Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA)

Speakers discussed how nutritional indicators can be integrated into sustainability communication and help consumers better understand the dietary benefits of seafood.

Understanding the Human Side of Seafood

The final plenary session addressed the socio-economic dimension of seafood production and consumption. The session opened with a presentation from Tracy Murai (Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management) on behalf of the VeriFish project.

Moderated by Graeme Macfadyen (Poseidon), the panel featured:

  • Irene Kranendonk – Fish Tales
  • Petter Olsen – Nofima
  • Marine Cusa – Oceana

The discussion explored how socio-economic indicators can capture the human dimension of seafood systems, including livelihoods, value chains and consumer trust.

Interactive Validation Workshops

In the afternoon, participants joined interactive breakout sessions designed to validate the main outputs of the projects.

For VeriFish, the validation workshop presented three key elements:

  • the VeriFish web application, demonstrating how sustainability indicators can be accessed through a structured data dashboard;
  • the Guidelines for the use of seafood verifiable indicators, offering practical recommendations for transparent sustainability communication;
  • the media and outreach outputs developed within the project.

Participants provided feedback both in person and online, helping refine the tools and recommendations developed during the project.

Collaboration and Looking Ahead

The event concluded with a joint wrap-up by Sara Pittonet and Nives Ogrinc, summarising the discussions and highlighting the importance of continued collaboration between research, industry, policy and civil society to improve seafood sustainability communication.

The day ended with a networking reception that allowed participants to continue discussions and strengthen connections across the sector.

The organisers extend their sincere thanks to all speakers, panellists and participants, as well as to the European Commission and the Mission Ocean & Waters community, whose support made the event possible.

The VeriFish and FishEUTrust projects demonstrate that addressing seafood sustainability requires a multidimensional approach, combining environmental, nutritional and socio-economic perspectives with reliable data and transparent communication tools.

Latest Post

David Bassett

Employed by EATiP since 2017, David is responsible for the day-to-day management and direction of this European wide multi-actor ETP. 

Working in the aquaculture industry since 2005, including a decade as the executive of a UK producer association, he has been active in numerous projects from the sixth Framework Programme. Among other roles, David has served as a director of the Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum and served on the Technical Advisory Group of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC TAG) alongside being invited as a guest lecturer at the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling (UK).  

In addition to working on multiple Horizon Europe projects David is one of the Technical Experts assisting with the implementation of the EU Aquaculture Assistance Mechanism in addition to chairing the research focus group of the Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) and sitting on the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research – Fish Committee (SCAR-Fish). 

For further information on EATiP please see www.eatip.eu 

Paul Bulcock

Paul Bulcock is responsible for developing and maintaining aquaculture information in SFP’s systems (e.g., FishSource, AIP Directory, Metrics). He also supports development and implementation of aquaculture strategy through research and analysis.

Paul has extensive program support and aquaculture research experience (particularly in Southeast Asia), having worked for the Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia-Pacific (NACA) and DFID’s Aquaculture and Fish Genetics Research Programme (AFGRP) at the Institute of Aquaculture, in Stirling, UK. He has an MSc in aquaculture from the University of Stirling and a BSc in marine and fisheries zoology from the University of Aberdeen.

Paul is based in the UK, in Glasgow, Scotland.

Fabio Grati

A fishery biologist presently employed at the National Research Council, Institute for Marine Biological Resources and Biotechnology (Ancona, Italy), he brings to the table more than thirty years of expertise in marine environmental conservation and sustainable resource management. Over the course of his career, he has overseen and participated in numerous international projects focused on understanding and mitigating anthropic impacts on marine ecosystems. Since 2019, he holds a membership in the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) under the European Commission. Within this role, he has chaired two STECF Expert Working Groups (EWG 22-12 and EWG 23-18), where he led efforts to establish scientifically robust yet accessible criteria and indicators for assessing the sustainability of fisheries products.

Andrea Fabris

Andrea Fabris born 11.08.1968, Italian, has a Veterinary Medicine full graduation achieved at the University of Parma. He has also a Specialization in “Farming, Hygiene, Pathology of Aquatic Species and Control of Derivative Products ” achieved at Udine University and a Specialization in “Animal Feeding” obtained at Bologna University.

Actually (from May 2016) he is Director of Associazione Piscicoltori Italiani (API – Italian Fish Farmers Association). At National level behalf of API he is member of some working groups at the General Direction for Fisheries and Aquaculture of Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Italian Ministry of Health regarding aquaculture EU rules and their implementation at national and regional level, and member of Exotic Species Aquaculture Committee – Italian Ministry of Agriculture. Lecturer on in training /courses organized by Ministry of Health, Universities and Local Veterinary Authorities; member of Board of Directors of SIPI (Italian Society of Fish Pathology).

He is also involved at international level with the Federation of European Aquaculture Producers (FEAP) as Chairman of FEAP Fish Health and Welfare Commission. Andrea is part of the FVE (Federation of Veterinarians Europe) Aquaculture Working Group, and of FishMedPlus Coalition, and from the beginning member of Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) where is actually Chair of WG1 – Finfish.

He published as an author or co-author about 30 articles on international and national scientific journals concerning Fish pathology and Aquaculture and more than 60 issues on divulgative (fishermen and aquaculture producers associations) publications

Anne Marie Cooper

Anne shapes global sustainable fisheries and aquaculture policies through her work at the science-policy interface. Driven by a commitment to improving human lives and aquatic ecosystems, she serves as the Professional Officer for Fisheries and Aquaculture Advice at the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Anne leads ICES’ efforts in developing and applying methods to provide scientific advice on data-limited fish and shellfish stocks in the Northeast Atlantic, covering over 60% of ICES stocks. She also heads the development of ICES’
advisory framework for sustainable aquaculture. Before joining ICES, Anne advised on national fisheries, aquaculture, climate, and marine science policy in the US Senate, House of Representatives, and NOAA. She holds a Ph.D. in Conservation Biology and Development Studies and Social Change Theory and an M.Sc. in Fisheries Science from the University of Minnesota.

Pedro Reis Santos

Pedro Reis Santos is Secretary General of the Market Advisory Council (MAC), a stakeholder-led advisory body to the European Commission and to the Member States on matters relevant for the EU market of fishery and aquaculture products, as foreseen by the Common Fisheries Policy Regulation.

Before his appointment, in July 2019, as Secretary General, Mr Reis Santos worked as a consultant for a Brussels-based business intelligence service monitoring EU developments on fisheries, agriculture, food, animal welfare, alcohol and tobacco policy. Prior to that, he was a trainee at the Fisheries Unit of the Council of the European Union and a trainee at the Control Unit of the Portuguese Fisheries Authority.

Mr Reis Santos holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law and a Master’s degree in International Law and International Relations from the University of Lisbon with a thesis titled “Marine Protected Areas beyond National Jurisdiction”. Besides his first language, Portuguese, he speaks English and Spanish

Irene Kranendonk

Irene Kranendonk is the Impact Manager at Fish Tales and a board member of the Fish Tales Foundation. Her work focuses on developing and guiding Fish Tales’ sourcing criteria including management of the environmental and social certification schemes. With the Fish Tales Foundation and local partner organizations, she drives social and environmental improvements in small scale fisheries. Irene holds a master’s degree from Wageningen University in Aquaculture and Marine Resource Management and is specialized in the field of fisheries ecology. In a previous role, Irene was sustainable seafood assessor for the Dutch seafood rating scheme the VISwijzer.