Ideal for links: the golf course-situated Fairmont St Andrews will be the venue for discussion and networking when it hosts the Responsible Seafood Summit in October.

Order of play revealed for Scotland's seafood summit at the golf course

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The Global Seafood Alliance (GSA) has unveiled an outline conference programme for the Responsible Seafood Summit that will take place in St Andrews, Scotland, in October, and has named some of the speakers booked to appear.

As previously reported, Scottish entrepreneur Chris van der Kuyl will be the Summit’s opening keynote speaker on Day 1 of the three-day conference. Van der Kuyl is co-founder of games developer, 4J Studios, and chairman of Dundee-based aquaculture technology innovator Ace Aquatec.

Tavish Scott, chief executive of trade body Salmon Scotland, is also due to speak, as is Salmon Scotland chairman Atholl Duncan, a former head of news and current affairs at BBC Scotland.

Rabobank analyst Gorjan Nikolik will speak on the first day of the conference.

Other speakers include seafood sector analysts Gorjan Nikolik (Rabobank), Ragnar Nystøyl (Kontali), and Matt Craze (Spheric Research). Katherine Bryar, global marketing director for feed producer BioMar, and Christopher Haacke, commercial director for Scotland company MiAlgae, which recycles the nutritional co-products from whisky production to grow omega-3 rich microalgae.

In all, 17 speakers have been named and more will be announced in the coming weeks.

Aquaculture and fisheries

The Summit, at the Fairmont St Andrews hotel, is being staged in collaboration with Seafood Scotland. It runs from October 21-24 (Day 1 is for registration and an opening reception), and the conference from October 22-24, with the third day given over to field trips.

The GSA says the conference programme has been carefully curated with sessions structured to unite seafood professionals from both aquaculture and fisheries to discuss shared responsibilities and goals.

The first plenary session on Day 1 of the conference includes a panel discussion on why seafood should embrace artificial intelligence, and the second – on salmon – includes data presentations from Rabobank and Kontali, and a panel on “Building social license for salmon in the age of misinformation”.

The afternoon is devoted to breakout sessions.

Field trips

Day 2 has plenary sessions on welfare, shrimp, and impact, with the afternoon again being used for breakout sessions.

With the Summit taking place at St Andrews, the “home of golf”, Day 3 has with a golf tournament teeing off at 8 am, and also offers industry field trips and sightseeing trips.

October’s event is the 23rd edition of the Responsible Seafood Summit and the first held in Scotland. More information about the programme, speakers, cost and registration can be found on the GSA website.