IN BRIEF - The Undersecretary of Fisheries chose not to punish illegal fishing of toothfish
ARGENTINA
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Fishing a quota species without being a quota holder is prohibited by the Federal Fisheries Law and is considered a very serious offense.
The Tai An vessel does not have a quota for toothfish; Therefore, it can only incidentally capture up to 5 tons per trip, as established by Resolution 9/2023 of the Federal Fisheries Council.
However, this ship was operating in the toothfish distribution area, where wells with depths greater than a thousand meters are located, on March 2 and 6. It is suspected that such a large volume could not be loaded in just two days, so the cargo could be made up of 142 tons with a significant proportion of juvenile specimens, which would further aggravate the ship's situation.
The toothfish is a species that is protected internationally due to its limited availability and very high vulnerability. Therefore, illegal fishing anywhere in the world can be punished by certifying organizations and even by the market.
The fact is of unusual gravity: the Tai An ship has not only stolen 142 tons of toothfish from the Argentine Sea, worth three and a half million dollars, but has also endangered the sustainability of the resource. Given this situation, the only thing the Undersecretary of Fisheries did was tell the boat to leave the distribution area of this species, allowing it to continue fishing in other areas.
“It's what I can do,”Juan Antonio López Cazorla told the businessmen who complained about his inaction.[...]
Source: Revista Puerto (Translated from original in Spanish)
The fishing fleet operating in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea continues its active season, focusing primarily on pollock and Pacific herring. Key issues related to season organization, safety, and scientific support are ?????????? addressed at the headquarters of the Federal Agency for Fisheries.
According to the industry monitoring system of Rosrybolovstvo, as of January 25, fishermen harvested 183,700 tons of pollock. Of this volume, 76,100 tons were caught in the Sea of Okhotsk, where 37 vessels were in operation.
The catch of Pacific herring reached 81,400 tons, including 72,500 tons taken in the North Okhotsk subzone by 18 vessels.
Since the beginning of the year, the cod catch in the Far East basin totaled 9,200 tons, with 3,800 tons harvested in the Sea of Okhotsk by 13 vessels.
As of January 26, total refrigeration capacity in Primorsky Krai stood at 38%, accounting for more than 48,000 tons of fish products. Additionally, 22 vessels carrying over 26,000 tons of fish products were en route to port.
Source:United Press Service of the Federal Agency for Fisheries
The Nodosa shipyard is reinforcing its historical ties with Galician aquaculture and returning to one of its founding niches: the construction of mussel boats for use in the Galician estuaries. The Marín-based company will build two new vessels—one for Proinsa in A Coruña and another for Barlovento in the Arousa estuary—in an operation that, in addition to contributing to the renewal of the mussel farming fleet, consolidates its workload for the coming years: the shipyard has five new vessels in its order book and an activity horizon until 2027.
José Fernández López, the Lugo native who founded Pescanova and was responsible for bringing the freezer trawler to the Spanish fishing industry, had just acquired the "ship of three lives," which had been anchored in the Rande inlet for some time awaiting scrapping after a tumultuous maritime history. Born “Alfonso XIII” at the La Naval Shipyards in Sestao (Spanish Naval Construction Company-Bilbao) as an ocean liner for the Compañía Trasatlántica Española (Spanish Transatlantic Company), its keel was laid in 1916 but it wasn't launched until 1920 due to the outbreak of the First World War.
Source: Industrias Pesqueras | Read the full article here
A boom in the population of common octopus in Guernsey waters has wiped more than £500,000 off the value of local shellfish landings in a year, according to a new report.
The study by the UK Marine Biological Association (MBA) found the number of octopus landed by commercial fisheries in the region last year was almost 65 times higher than recent annual averages.
Dr Bryce Stewart from the MBA said the rise in octopus in Channel Island and UK waters, was due to warmer sea temperatures and mild winters.
Author: Harry Whitehead / BBC | Read the full article here
A local authority in eastern Iceland is exploring the possibility of establishing a regular ferry service between the fish farming town of Seyðisfjörðu and Scotland
Representatives of the local government say they want to make even better use of the ferry port in Seyðisfjörður, which has served that part of Iceland for a number of years.
According to Helgi Ásgrímsson, the northernmost ports of Scotland are well connected to Britain’s national rail system which runs into Europe.
Author: Vince McDonagh / Fish Farmer | Read the full article here
The bodies of six crew members who died when a salmon farming service vessel sank in Chile earlier this week have all now been recovered
The men died when the Koñimo 1 sank at its moorings 70 metres from shore in the Reloncaví Estuary, Los Lagos region, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Two of the vessels eight crew were able to swim to shore but the remaining six died. The bodies of three of the men were recovered on Tuesday, and three more yesterday.
To date, no official cause has been established for the sinking of the Koñimo 1, which had been carrying out infrastructure maintenance for salmon farmer Salmones Austral.
Author:Florencia Ramos / fishfarmingexpert | Read the full article here
Spanish ports broke records for general cargo and containers
In broad terms, the annual balance of the Spanish port system in 2025 is nothing to celebrate. The volume of cargo handled in the 46 state-owned ports of general interest, managed by 28 port authorities, is slightly lower than in 2024. The 556.6 million tons that passed through these terminals last year represent a 0.2% drop compared to the previous year, in which 557.7 million tons were recorded. Fewer merchant ships also arrived at these ports: 162,865 vessels, representing a 2.2% decrease.
Source: La Voz de Galicia | Read the full article here
In 2025, the Mediterranean Sea reached water temperatures in some areas up to 6.5°C above the average recorded between 1982 and 2015, with an average of 190 days of marine heatwaves across the Mediterranean. This data is compiled in the “Annual Report 2025: Global Warming Impacts in the Mediterranean Sea and Balearic Islands Region” by the Balearic Islands Coastal Observing System (SOCIB).
“Climate change brought new records in 2025 in terms of ocean temperatures, salinity, and sea level in the Mediterranean,” says Mélanie Juza, a scientist at SOCIB and author of the report.
Source: iPac.aquacultura | Read the full article here
UK retailers enjoyed rapid growth in sales of certified sustainable seafood last year (2024-25) thanks in large part to almost two thirds (63%) of wild caught fish and seafood products now carrying the Marine StewardshipCouncil(MSC) ecolabel. There are now almost 1,000 (948) MSC labelled products sold under supermarkets’ own brands.
The £1.7bn consumers spent on 189,000 tonnes of MSC labelled products represents a 14% increase on the previous year, according to the MSC UK and Ireland Market Report which is published today.
BioMar outlines steady outlook for 2026 following solid year.
Schouw & Co., the owner of BioMar Group, has published preliminary unaudited figures showing that BioMar recorded revenue of DKK 16.5 billion ($2.64 billion, €2.15 billion) in 2025, within its guidance range of DKK 16.3 to 16.7 billion. EBITDA for the year reached DKK 1,517 million ($243 million, €197 million), also in line with guidance of DKK 1,490 to 1,530 million.
The annual reports for both Schouw & Co. and BioMar are scheduled for release on 5 March 2026.
Source: SalmonBusiness | Read the full article here
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According to the industry monitoring system of Rosrybolovstvo, as of January 25, fishermen harvested 183,700 tons of pollock. Of this volume, 76,100 tons were caught in the Sea of Okhotsk, where 37 vessels were in operation.
SPAIN
The 
José Fernández López, the Lugo native who founded 
UNITED KINGDOM
A boom in the population of common octopus in Guernsey waters has wiped more than £500,000 off the value of local shellfish landings in a year, according to a new report.
ICELAND
A local authority in eastern Iceland is exploring the possibility of establishing a regular ferry service between the fish farming town of Seyðisfjörðu and Scotland
CHILE.png)
The men died when the Koñimo 1 sank at its moorings 70 metres from shore in the Reloncaví Estuary, Los Lagos region, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Spanish ports broke records for general cargo and containers
WORLDWIDE
In 2025, the Mediterranean Sea reached water temperatures in some areas up to 6.5°C above the average recorded between 1982 and 2015, with an average of 190 days of marine heatwaves across the Mediterranean. This data is compiled in the “Annual Report 2025: Global Warming Impacts in the Mediterranean Sea and Balearic Islands Region” by the Balearic Islands Coastal Observing System (SOCIB).
UK retailers enjoyed rapid growth in sales of certified sustainable seafood last year (2024-25) thanks in large part to almost two thirds (63%) of wild caught fish and seafood products now carrying the 
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BioMar
