The Coronavirus emergency, which started from China and outbroke in Italy at the end of February, is rapidly spreading all over the world. The risk associated with COVID-19 had already led to the cancellation of some of the largest international events and business gatherings, such as the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona. Now that the World Health Organization has formalized the pandemic nature of the spread of the virus, entire countries are being quarantined.

This state of insecurity obviously had consequences also in the world of the fish economy. The organization of Sealogy, the fair dedicated to the Blue Economy which was to be held in Ferrara from 6 to 8 March, had to cancel the event, which will however be held in the ferial compound of the same city from 20 to 22 November 2020 (concurrently of the World Fisheries Day, which is on November 21).

The increasingly compelling restrictions and constraints on the movement of people which are being put in place between the various quarantined countries have also led to the cancellation of the two main international events dedicated to the fish supply sector, the Boston Seafood Expo North America and the Seafood Expo Global , which was to be held in Brussels for the last year. The latest statement by Liz Plizga, vice president of the organizing group of the Brussels fair:

Diversified Communications has made the very difficult decision that, due to the magnitude of the unanticipated public health and safety issues posed by the rapidly escalating COVID-19 outbreaks and contagion, we have no choice but to postpone the upcoming edition of Seafood Expo Global and Seafood Processing Global, which was planned to take place on 21-23 April 2020 at the Brussels Expo in Belgium. The Belgium government has affirmed the risk the outbreak poses with its issuance today of advice to cancel indoor events with more than 1,000 people to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.

We value the support of everyone involved in the making of this event ­­ our vendors, the local authorities, the venue and, most of all, our partners, friends and customers in the seafood industry. We are looking forward to getting this strong seafood community back together in the near future. Until then, we send heartfelt thoughts to those who are affected by COVID-19.