Several factors have led to a nearly halving of prices for both fishermen and exporters in a short period of time. Fishermen are currently experiencing significantly lower kilo prices for king crab in June compared to May.

One key factor is the availability of blue crab from Russia in the market. Live blue crab is being delivered at a significantly different price than the red king crab from Norway. Additionally, Russia has announced an earlier start to king crab fishing in the Barents Sea, moving the start date from 01 September to 01 July. This introduces a new player during a time when Norwegian actors have traditionally operated alone, further driving down prices on the global market.

Author:  Oliver McBride / The Fishing Daily l Read the full article here

Santa Cruz, California-based non-profit sustainable seafood consultancy FishWise and the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), the industry standard for digitally interoperable traceability in seafood, have established a new partnership to promote the widespread adoption of traceability best practices in seafood supply chains.

The two organisations aim to promote the implementation of interoperable, digitised traceability systems and the adoption of the GDST standard across public and private sectors. 

Source: Worldfishing l Read the full article here

In 2022, total aquaculture production in Portugal reached 18,822 tonnes, an increase of 4.8% compared to 2021. For its part, sales generated income of 159.8 million euros (157.1 million euros in 2021), which reflected an increase of 1.7%, with a reduction in the quantities sold of 8.2% (from 17,600 in 2021 to 16,166 tons in 2022).

The structure of aquaculture activity in Portugal shows that production in transitional and marine waters, which was 8,408 tons in 2022, is the majority, concentrating 97.8% of total production. Aquaculture production in continental waters was 414 tons.

Source: iPac.acucultura l Read the full article here

A total of 21 EU countries provided financial support under the EMFF to address the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine

The European Commission (EC) began two consultations this Wednesday to evaluate the effectiveness of the financing programs that support the fishing and maritime sector of the European Union (EU), both past and those that are still ongoing. The first call has the objective of collecting different points of view on the management of the funds and comments can be sent from today until July 11, 2024.

Source: La Voz de Galicia l Read the full article here

The global alternative investment platform Slate Asset Management has acquired the World Seafood Center in Oslo for a figure close to £100m.

The Center is a state of the art new-build refrigeration and distribution facility, based at a logistics hub near Oslo’s main airport. The purchase figure is NOK 1.3bn (£95.4m).

Slate said the acquisition adds to its portfolio of essential real estate assets in Europe. The company added that seafood is the second largest industry in Norway with a growing export volume benefitting from strong demographic tailwinds, that are driving high demand in the region for industrial space for the seafood industry.

Author: Robert Outram / Fish Farmer l Read the full article here

Priority was given to high-cost cargo from China and other countries, and cuts in service

Space shortages are becoming serious on Japan-Asia routes. Although it depends on the shipping company and route, according to people involved, bookings cannot be made until mid-July, about a month from now. It seems that the reduction in allocations for Japanese cargo is having an impact, with high-cost cargo from China and other sources being given priority. 

Some shipping companies are considering reducing the number of intra-regional routes to and from Japan to redirect ships to routes to and from China and other core routes that are also expected to be highly profitable.

Source: The Japan Maritime Daily

Vietnam's largest pangasius exporter, Vinh Hoan, has invested in surimi production, including block surimi and crab sticks.

After adding a surimi raw material production line at the factory in Cao Lanh City, Dong Thap Province in 2023, the company has an annual processing capacity of 5,000 tons.

This activity is part of a strategy that strives to fully optimize the company's Pangasius value chain.

Surimi products, both raw materials and finished products, are ASC-certified.

Vinh Hoan's pangasius surimi block is packaged in 10 kg boxes with many different grades depending on the gel level such as 500-700 and 1,000 or more.

Meanwhile, the company has just launched an instant surimi noodle product called "Protein Pho Fusion". The main market includes the Asian community in the US, Europe, and Asian countries.

With noodle products that come with steamed pangasius meat and white-leg shrimp, Vinh Hoan hopes to capture the needs of health-conscious consumers.

Lucky Bag, another new surimi-based product from the company, won the Innovation Award at the 2024 Global Seafood Expo.

Source: VASEP (translated from original ni Vietnamese)

According to the Norwegian government, the agreement contains points linked to the exchange of experiences in fishing, aquaculture, and trade in seafood.

The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Marianne Sivertsen Næss, signed a cooperation agreement with South Korea on seafood. The agreement was made in Sejong together with South Korea's Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Do-Hyung Kang.

Norway and South Korea are port nations.

Source: aqua.cl l Read the full article here

Coinciding with the celebration of World Oceans Day, more than 160 environmental and fisheries organizations from around the world, under the initiative of the Seas of Change Conference 2024, have asked the FAO to exclude the farming of carnivorous fish from the definition of “ sustainable aquaculture”.

The signatories represent a wide range of international organizations and local communities “that have studied or experienced first-hand the harmful impacts of fish farming in open sea cages on an industrial scale,” they say in a letter addressed to Manuel Barange, Director of Fisheries. and FAO Aquaculture.

Source: Industrias Pesqueras l Read the full article here

Utror, a Norwegian company planning an offshore salmon farm in the Trænabanken sea area at the far end of the Helgeland coast in Nordland, has shared the first image of its enclosure.

The offshore cage is 300 metres long, 55 metres wide and has a freeboard during normal operation of 20 metres.

Utror will review the operating philosophy on which the project and technology are based at the AquaNext event taking place this week in Stavanger.

Source: fishfarmingexpert l Read the full article here