The North Atlantic Seafood Forum is the world’s largest seafood business conference which in its 14th year once again proved its significance among seafood stakeholders. For Veramaris, the “NASF2019” offered a perfect atmosphere to connect throughout the whole value chain and learn even more about seafood that is loved all over the world for its unique taste and high quality.

Veramaris CEO Karim Kurmaly addressed the increasing consumer demand for healthy and sustainably raised seafood in his talk at the Sustainability Workshop on March 7th, chaired by Andrea Weber, Director Corporate Responsibility, Metro AG, Germany.

Karim’s contribution entitled “Healthy fish, healthy food, healthy oceans” was an answer to the current challenges facing the aquaculture industry. He said: "Sustainability in seafood production is not just one's challenge, but everyone's. We only have one planet and we should treasure our oceans to the best of our ability to ensure that they continue providing healthy and nutritious seafood for generations to come.”

Appreciating the role of the Norwegian salmon industry in adopting new technologies to make food production more sustainable, Karim spoke about Veramaris’ novel natural marine algal oil and how this solution can help contribute to conserve marine biodiversity and close the supply demand gap for omega-3 EPA & DHA.

Collaboration along the entire value chain is key for Veramaris, because we believe that it takes a concerted effort to innovate and transform industries. That’s why Veramaris aims to bring the key stakeholders and decision makers of the seafood industry around one table. This includes farmers, feed producers, retailers, NGOs and many others who all share our vision of attaining sustainable aquaculture that provides healthy and nutritious food for generations to come.

And bringing people around one table is exactly what we did then: Following the Sustainability Workshop, Veramaris hosted the “Laks for Life”-Luncheon. 80 stakeholders from across the value chain followed our invitation and were served salmon raised in the cold and clear waters of Norwegian farmer Lingalaks.

Lingalaks started feeding 50% of their total salmon production with a diet containing the Veramaris natural marine algal oil rich in omega-3 EPA & DHA, making the salmon not only more sustainable, but also exceptionally healthy. Tasting the algae-fed salmon was a premiere for many guests at the Luncheon and they were all visibly pleased with their culinary experience – simply delicious and nutritious!

During the Luncheon, Veramaris opened a panel discussion on the future of sustainable aquaculture featuring Ivar Wulff of Leroy, Mads Martinsen of Skretting, Kristian Botnen of Lingalaks and last but not least Karim Kurmaly of Veramaris.

Interviewed and challenged by moderator Ole-Alexander Palm of PwC, the panelists touched upon recent aquaculture issues, such as dependency on scare resources, animal health and welfare as well as enabling sustainable growth of the Norwegian aquaculture industry.