On the other hand, new realities have offered silver linings for players.

For example, given the EU’s demand for whitefish, Vietnamese pangasius faces the opportunity to expand in the European market. Will it be really a viable substitute to China-processed Russian pollock or pollock fillets and surimi fr om the Unites States?

Redistribution of seafood flows creates conditions for expanding business cooperation with seafood buyers and producers in Latin America and Africa, wh ere fisheries production and seafood consumption have showed sustained growth over the past decade.

Will this potential be used given important fish trade nations in Latin America had already been suffering with a marine shipping crisis over the past couple of years, intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, and now new concerns are looming over sanctions-related restrictions on maritime traffic?

Finally, Asia with its more than a 60 percent share in the world's seafood consumption continues to attract increasing attention from fish suppliers despite the strong disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Will China continue to pursue a policy of strict pandemic restrictions on fish supplies at risk of losing some of the raw materials for its fish processing factories?

Questions the answers to which many participants of the seafood market are trying to obtain.

Volatility in the global fishing industry is a big challenge to all of its related sectors, including aquaculture, fish processing, shipbuilding and ship repair, etc, creating both distressful uncertainty and new opportunities.

Will the Chilean farmed salmon producers be capable of expanding share in the European market by taking advantage of the sanctions restrictions and the shortage of salmon in Europe?

That is a case with the suppliers of fish feed, juveniles and equipment amid an acute shortage of them.

Or, will manufactures of the recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) meet increased demand for their equipment from booming land-based fish farming sector?

How will industrial aquaculture meet a far-reaching variety of environmental consequences, including the escape of farmed fish from their cages that threatens wild fish populations; the spread of deadly diseases and parasites; the overfishing of wild fish to feed farmed fish?

The rapidly changing landscape of the global fishing industry can be both an opportunity and a challenge for fishery shipbuilding sector.

Many supply chains of onboard equipment and fishing gears have been hit by sanctions. Will manufactures and shipbuilders be fast enough to meet again in new circumstances?

Finally, will the global fisheries community maintain its huge experience in the field of international cooperation in order to further combat numerous challenges in sanction-burdened realities?

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the negative impact of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture, fish stock preservation and overfishing, plastic contamination of the global ocean killing aquatic life are some of the biggest problems in global fisheries that require joint efforts and new ecosystem-based solutions and fisheries management.

The high volatility and difficult predictability in the seafood markets, the ongoing waves of COVID-related restrictions and the various bans that are shaking the entire global fishing industry have created new realities and left many fearful for the future of their business in the face of new challenges.

On the other hand, new challenges, as always, create new opportunities that require an unbiased, non-politically motivated use of new approaches and tools.

SEAFOOD EXPO EURASIA is a new event, aimed to connect fishing companies and fishery-related communities from around the world and help them work more closely together, putting aside the changing political environment, to meet new challenges and seize new opportunities.