Seafood Consulting Associates was formed in 2001 when the Managing Director, Lukas Manomaitis, moved to Southeast Asia.  Starting with several clients, one client in particular over time has become an important client of SCA, the U.S. Soybean Export Council (previously known as the American Soybean Association [or ASA, from 2002-2007], the American Soybean Association International Marketing [or ASA-IM, from 2008-2013]).

The U.S. Soybean Export Council, or USSEC, is a non-profit marketing organization devoted to the promotion of soy products from the United States of America.  USSEC works on this objective through several approaches, primarily trade and technical servicing, and works in a variety of areas, including Animal Nutrition, Human Nutrition, Market Access, Industrial Uses and of course, Aquaculture.

In 2002 SCA was approached to help USSEC move its highly successful Aquaculture program out of China into the Asian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, primarily to India, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.  SCA was hired on a limited time basis to help develop the USSEC approach to these markets.  In late 2007 SCA (and specifically the Managing Director, Lukas Manomaitis) was contracted on a more substantial basis to specifically to focus on the USSEC program in Southeast Asia, focusing primarily on Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.  Starting in 2015 USSEC also requested SCA to also help the USSEC Global Aquaculture Program, with assignments around the world, including other locations in Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and South America. 

Through these various roles with USSEC, and through work with other clients and organizations, SCA has built up a vast knowledge of the seafood production chain (particularly as related to aquaculture) from broodstock to the final consumer and all the steps in between.  (In a phrase, “Jack of All Trades, Master of Some”.)  This includes work with hatcheries, farmers, feedmills, processors, markets, health management and essentially all the various actors in the production/value chain for aquaculture.  This also includes moves by the seafood to move towards standards, certifications and in particular sustainability/sustainable approaches.

The simple production chain above tries to indicate a basic way to understand the aquaculture production chain. In order to market a given ingredient (USSEC is not a sales organization, but a non-profit marketing association), the entire production chain should work smoothly and efficiently. Otherwise it will be difficult to see the value of an ingredient clearly. USSEC has taken a technical servicing approach to interacting with the international aquaculture industry and is seen as a trusted provider of knowledge – “Neutral with and open bias (towards US Soy)” – when working with industry. To learn more about the USSEC specifically, please visit their webpage at www.ussec.org.