"Sustainability is a decision that needs to be practiced every day"

"Race to the Top is a space where we seek to demonstrate — through the example and experience of leaders — that sustainability is a decision that needs to be practiced every day." With these words, Pamela Nath, Director of the Sustainable Shrimp Partnership (SSP), summed up the objective of the sustainability forum held this week in Guayaquil, Ecuador, during AquaExpo International.

"It is a platform to define the future of shrimp aquaculture by learning from outstanding experts in their fields and transferring that vision to others across the industry. Here, we analyze where sustainability is heading, what is being done, and how we have reached this point — to inspire more actors to keep innovating with purpose," SSP Director continued.

Organized by SSP and Ecuador's National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA), this second edition of the forum, which featured thirty-five speakers and more than 300 attendees, took a new approach by bringing together the shrimp and salmon sectors.

Opening the door to cross-sector learning

Under the motto 'Transform, Inspire, Lead', Race to the Top 2025 sought to elevate the debate on sustainable aquaculture by bringing together the two most influential aquaculture proteins, shrimp and salmon, on the same stage, opening the door to cross-sector learning and leveraging the successful experiences of other industries to move forward together toward more responsible food production systems.

Thus, thirty-five national and international speakers from Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, the United States, Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark, and Italy shared strategies, lessons, and success stories that are accelerating sustainability in the shrimp industry and other productive sectors.

The program was structured around four main themes: governance, economy, social responsibility, and environment, positioning sustainability as a discipline of high performance and transformative leadership necessary for the sector's continued growth.

Among the speakers were leading figures from shrimp production, banking, food innovation, and corporate sustainability, but also representatives from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), or former NASA executives, for example.

Best shrimp in the world or best shrimp for the world?

As mentioned, behind this forum are the Sustainable Shrimp Partnership and Ecuador's National Chamber of Aquaculture, two organizations that work side by side to promote sustainability, innovation, and climate resilience in aquaculture and, more specifically, in the Ecuadorian shrimp sector, as highlighted by José Antonio Camposano, Executive President of the CNA, when commenting on the event.

"Ecuador's shrimp industry has long been defined by continuous innovation and investment — factors that have made us the world's leading shrimp exporter. Equally important, however, has been doing so with sustainability as an inherent part of our strategy," he said.

"At Race to the Top, we aim to share this mindset and show how Ecuadorian producers and value-chain actors are already leading in this area — and how this model can be replicated across the global aquaculture industry and in other sectors as well," Camposano concluded.

The event - which was sponsored by Cargill, Conexión Consultores, Duragas Abastible, Huawei, LarvIA, and Vitapro - concluded with a message that, according to the organizers, captures its essence: "Staying at the top requires continuous innovation, collaboration, and leadership with purpose. It's no longer just about producing the best shrimp in the world — but about producing the best shrimp for the world."