Seafood Marketing Coalition moves forward

April 6, 2011 - PRLog -- Around 84 per cent of seafood eaten in the United States is imported.

The US seafood sector is developing a marketing net to attract more consumers. Already more than 50 fishing and seafood groups from 24 states have joined the National Seafood Marketing Coalition to better market the country’s seafood.

Coalition organisers are hoping to obtain help from the federal government. They say promotion, new product development, education and other marketing approaches will fortify the national seafood economy and spawn jobs.

"Our experience is that a little bit of marketing goes a long way," assured Dane Somers, executive director of the Maine Lobster Promotion Council. "Since nobody's doing much, when you do a little bit it's noticeable."

In 2009, US citizens ate 4.8 billion lb of fish and shellfish - 15.8 lb per person. But 84 per cent of that seafood was imported, up from 68 per cent in 2000, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), reports AP.

Apart from imports, the industry also competes against proteins such as meat, chicken and pork and other foods, said Bruce Schactler, an Alaska fisher serving as the coalition's volunteer director.

Despite regional seafood marketing groups such as the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute and the Maine Lobster Promotion Council, there is no unified national marketing scheme or group.

Work on the new coalition has been in progress for over a year. Last month, some 40 supporters from across the US met in Seattle to reach consensus on a plan.

The supporters agreed that the coalition would consist of five regional marketing boards representing New England and the Great Lakes, the Mid-Atlantic, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific coast and Alaska and Hawaii. Each region would create marketing programmes for itself and collaborate to attend to national marketing matters.

Schactler noted that the industry could have benefited from a national campaign after last year's BP oil spill in the Gulf.

"You saw it all summer long, there were people thinking 'Maybe I ought to just quit eating seafood altogether. I can't figure it out, I'm confused, I'm going to become a vegetarian or eat chicken or something else,'" he said.

The coalition wants to get a sponsor for a federal bill to found a National Seafood Marketing Fund that will generate up to USD 100 million a year, with a possible funding source coming from duties and tariffs already taxed on seafood imports, Somers explained.

A similar effort by the government 25 years ago to promote the sector failed when the government ran out of money and the industry decided it would not finance the programme itself. The council then split up.

Now, coalition members want to create a framework with steady funding.

Eric Schwaab, head of NOAA Fisheries Service, said he supports the move.

"We strongly support industry working together to promote our healthy, sustainably produced US seafood," he said.

By Natalia Real
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com

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