2025 Local Seafood Summit

Charting a Course for Community-Based Seafood Systems

Gulf Shores, Alabama | November 9-12, 2025

About the Summit

The 2025 Local Seafood Summit is a practitioner-centric gathering for all those who are working to strengthen community-based seafood systems at the local, regional, and national scales. The summit aims to foster new connections, facilitate knowledge exchange, and create space for strategic dialogue about the tools, services, research, and policies needed to elevate the role of seafood in food systems and support resilient and vibrant coastal communities. Seafood harvesters, entrepreneurs, researchers, decision-makers, and community change-agents are welcome.

Goals

The goals of the summit are to:

(1) Facilitate knowledge exchange and peer-to-peer learning;

(2) Create networking opportunities for Local Catch Network members and allied partners;

(3) Strengthen the local seafood sector by way of technical assistance and trainings; and

(4) Elevate key and emerging issues and opportunities to strengthen local and regional food systems

2025 Summit Details

Audience

We are expecting 200-300 attendees at the 2025 Local Seafood Summit from across the United States, Canada, and affiliated islands. Participants will have a range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives related to community-based fisheries and seafood systems. What makes our events impactful is that everyone in the “room” brings knowledge and expertise.

Travel & Lodging

Travel

The Local Seafood Summit will be hosted at The Lodge at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama, November 9-12, 2025. The venue overlooks the Gulf of Mexico and is within driving distance of many fishing communities in the region.

Hotel information will be available soon.

Flights

The Lodge at Gulf State Park is within driving distance from multiple airports:

Pensacola International Airport (1 hour)
Mobile International Airport (1 hour and 15 minutes)
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (3 hours and 30 minutes)

APPLY! Scholarships

We are committed to lessening barriers for participation for our programming, including the seafood summit, by providing scholarships to practitioners to help off-set the cost of attending the summit. Priority for financial support was given to seafood harvesters and other related attendees. If you would like to be considered for a scholarship, please fill out the following form.

Field Trip

Details about field trip options are forthcoming.

Swag Swap & Silent Auction

The swag swap and silent auction was a success! Summit attendees brought promotional items to swap or donate to the silent auction.

Guidelines

Bring promotional swag or auction items to the Summit
There will be two sections including swaps and silent auction:
- - In the swaps section, leave something that you would like to share with others.
  - Feeling charitable? Donate something to the Local Catch Silent Auction.
Drop off your swag or auction items at the designated table during registration
Be mindful of space and bring what you and others can easily transport.

What should you bring?

Items with your business logo including t-shirts, hats, mugs, etc.
Paper items like newsletters, annual reports, research papers, etc.
Shelf-stable, packaged seafood products, like canned salmon, dried seaweed
Artwork, poetry, books, creative expressions
A CSF subscription or gift cards
Other items are also welcome!

Community Agreements

Some of the most critical conversations networks have can be challenging. We have collectively created summit community agreements that aim to create emotional safety and trust amongst the group.

Credit for context, definitions, and agreements can be attributed to First Alaskans Institute, the National Equity Project, and Summit attendees.

OPEN! Call for Session Proposals

We welcome session proposals for the summit. Sessions led by presenters with direct hands-on experiences are particularly appreciated. Please use this form to submit your proposal. Presenters will receive a $125 discount off registration.

Registration

Registration will open in February 2025