On 11 June 2026, the fifth edition of Be Blue – The Sea Conference was held at the Museo nazionale scienza e tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan. An afternoon that brought together university researchers, market analysts, large-scale retail representatives and marine biologists.

To call Be Blue a trade event would be an understatement. Since 2022, Be Blue has broadened the scope of the conversation to the sea as a system, with all that entails in terms of supply chain, impact and knowledge. Irene Rizzoli, CEO of Delicius, knows this well, and clearly outlines the company's position: putting the sea at the centre means making coherent supply chain choices, working on resource awareness, and spreading a culture of consumption that goes beyond the purely commercial. Delicius is today a benefit company (a legal form that integrates economic objectives with responsibility towards people, communities and the environment), and Be Blue is the proof of that.

Canned fish as a solution

Be Blue understands that protecting the sea goes hand in hand with protecting fish — especially blue fish, which is of vital importance for marine biodiversity. Blue fish are short-lived species that sustain ecosystems and absorb environmental pressures, shielding more vulnerable species from intensive exploitation. They also offer high nutritional density and lower heavy metal accumulation compared to large predators.

At present, however, blue fish face two obstacles: a price perceived as too high, and the complexity of cooking them. As a result, the trend is inevitable: sales of anchovies and mackerel are falling, while those of molluscs are rising, because they have no bones and require no culinary expertise. Fresh blue fish faces a usage barrier that a method like canning would eliminate entirely.

This is precisely the friction point that Be Blue 2026 placed at the centre of its discussion with NielsenIQ, Selex, VéGé and Crai: canned blue fish is a product that resolves both the preparation difficulty and the cost. Quality canned fish products are finding an increasingly relevant place at a time when families are seeking a balance between home cooking and convenience, and when the transformation process is communicated as a factor that facilitates consumption. Yet the category work — assortment, claims, packaging — remains incomplete. Matteo Bonù of NielsenIQ showed how claims linked to health and provenance are becoming a concrete driver of purchase decisions: consumers are moving in the right direction, but they need the tools to do so.

Increasing trade in blue fish is driven by a very human reason: improving people's nutritional intake as part of their diet. One of the contributions to Be Blue 2026 came from the University of Parma, where Martina Cirlini, a lecturer in food chemistry, presented the results of a year of research into Delicius products. The crucial point is vitamin D. Blue fish is one of the very few natural dietary sources of vitamin D, an essential element for bone health and the proper functioning of the immune system, which is frequently deficient in the general population. Vitamin D is a highly stable molecule that is not damaged by heat or cooking and withstands prolonged food preservation, meaning it is also found in tinned foods such as sardines and mackerel.

Overfishing and biodiversity: the questions raised by Be Blue

This year, the most pressing issue came from the contribution of Stefano Pogutz of One Ocean Foundation and SDA Bocconi, who posed a question: how well do companies understand their own impact on the sea? The study Business Awareness and Response to Ocean Challenges suggests that declared awareness is high, but the translation into concrete action remains partial.

The context offers little reassurance. In the Mediterranean, 230,000 tonnes of catch are discarded and thrown back into the sea every year, and 75 per cent of fish stocks are overexploited. Bottom trawling disturbs the seabed, releases carbon stored in sediments and contributes to the degradation of deep-sea ecosystems. The EU has already set a ban on trawling by 2030, but in the meantime pressure on species continues. Even anchovies are beginning to show the effects of overfishing: the average size of the species is getting progressively smaller, demonstrating that climate change and excessive fishing are leaving their mark. Delicius stands apart in this regard with a clear positioning on supply chain choices, sourcing criteria and the type of fishing it supports.

Promoting the value of blue fish remains essential, especially at a time when the sea is becoming an increasingly important ally. Roberto Danovaro, professor of marine biology at the Università Politecnica delle Marche and president of the Fondazione Patto con il mare per la terra, extends an invitation to curiosity and exploration of the sea, before adding that the mapped portion of the ocean corresponds to less than 25 per cent of the global ocean floor. But studying the sea also means recognising the transformations taking place in its biodiversity. Some species typical of southern Italy, such as the comb fish, are becoming more common in parts of central — and even northern — Italy, such as the Marche region, as a result of climate change. And they are transforming not only the waters, but also people's diets.