IN BRIEF - 'Living with Food' — An Event Exploring the Future of Food in Japan
JAPAN
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Showcasing Sustainable Seafood: Protecting Health and Ocean Resources for Generations to Come
Maruha Nichiro Corporation (Headquarters: Koto-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Ikemi Masaru) will participate in the "Living with Food" event, a platform for exploring the future of food in Japan. Organized by Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. and Discover Japan Co., Ltd., the event will take place over ten days, from January 10th (Friday) to 19th (Sunday), 2025, at Tokyo Midtown Hibiya (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo).
As part of its medium-term management plan, “MNV 2024: Creating the Future of the Ocean and Life,” Maruha Nichiro has identified "creating health value and providing food that supports sustainability" as a key priority. At the event, the company will highlight two significant initiatives:
Promoting Health through Canned Blue Fish Products:
Maruha Nichiro will showcase the benefits of its canned blue fish products, emphasizing their potential to address contemporary health challenges. These nutrient-rich offerings are designed to support well-being while appealing to modern dietary needs.
Advancing Sustainable Seafood Practices:
The company will also present its efforts in promoting certified sustainable seafood—products that prioritize both environmental and social responsibility. These initiatives align with global sustainability goals, ensuring the long-term health of ocean ecosystems while meeting consumer demand.
The US$4.85 million "Promoting Community-Based Climate Resilience in the Fisheries Sector Project," implemented by the National Fisheries Authority, focuses on three key areas: policy and regulation improvements, alternative livelihoods, and sustainable fishing awareness.
Tangible results include a $574 million hatchery development at Twickenham Park projected to produce five million tilapia fry annually, significantly boosting aquaculture. The project also supports sea moss production (US$165,000), oyster farming (US$325,000), ornamental fish farming (US$105,000), and ecotourism (US$113,000).
Additionally, tilapia farming at Ebony Park has been revitalized with infrastructure investments and has recently completed its first harvest. Recognizing the threat of climate change, the project emphasizes building climate resilience within the fisheries sector.
Backe Entreprenør has established Backe Industri, a new company specializing in large, complex construction projects across Norway, with a core focus on land-based aquaculture.
"The creation of Backe Industri is a strategic decision to better serve our aquaculture clients and other markets," says Asle Randen, CEO of Backe Entreprenør. "By consolidating our group's experience and expertise within a single company, we offer a more streamlined and efficient point of contact."
Backe's recent project portfolio includes land-based aquaculture facilities in Tytlandsvik and Årdal, as well as data centers, process industry facilities, and power plants. This diverse experience, further strengthened by the 2023 acquisition of Kruse Smith Entreprenør and its land-based aquaculture projects, positions Backe Industri as a leading player in the sector.
Backe Industri will leverage the group's extensive planning and implementation expertise. With nearly 1,200 employees from Trondheim southward, the company is one of Norway's largest construction contractors.
The vessel is equipped for open and closed transport of salmon, as well as for RSW refrigeration, freshwater production and water treatment.
The Norwegian company specializing in the transport of smolts, classification and counting of salmon and trout, Rostein, has acquired the vessel Orca Yka from the Chilean company Naviera Orca. The vessel is en route to Norway, where it will be delivered in March and renamed Ro Sunrise. This wellboat has a capacity of 2,800 m³ and is sister to the vessels Ro Sailor and Ro Spirit.
Galicia closed the month of January with just over 17,400 workers affiliated to the special maritime regime, of which 7,837 were self-employed and the remaining 9,573 were salaried (employed). As regards on-board personnel, there are as many work centres as there are active fishing vessels, with almost as many specificities as dimensions, fishing gear, base port or target species. But there is no collective agreement that sets minimum and common conditions for workers - as there is in France, with the Convention Collective Nationale de la Pêche Professionnelle Maritime - a gap that may disappear if the initiative they are already working on prospers, with the sponsorship of the central government, unions or guilds.
Author: Lara Graña/ Faro de Vigo l Read the full article here
Mitsubishi Corporation, the parent company of Cermaq Group, revealed the salmon farmer saw an increased profit in the nine months ending 31 December, 2024.
According to Mitsubishi’s results, Cermaq posted a nine-month profit of JPY 8.1 billion (USD 53 million, EUR 51 million), an increase over the JPY 7.6 billion (USD 50 million, EUR 48 million) it posted in the same period of 2023. That made the company Mitsubishi’s highest profit company in its food industry segment.
The company said its salmon farming business was impacted by a decline in the market during the summer “as usual”
Author: Chris Chase /SeafoodSource l Read the full article here
The EU has been one of the largest consumers of Vietnamese pangasius over the past decade. However, data from Vietnam Customs reveals a gradual decline in EU imports of pangasius from Vietnam over the last five years.
In 2015, the EU ranked second among the largest importers of Vietnamese pangasius, trailing only the US, with export turnover reaching USD 285 million. A decade later, in 2024, the market has fallen to fourth place, surpassed by China & Hong Kong, the US, and CPTPP member countries.
Steelhead trout producer Kames Fish Farming has a new brand for its fish: “MòR Atlantic Trout”.
The family-run company said: “The brand aims to reach out to chefs and restaurants and connect customers to what they are eating, celebrating the uniqueness of this fish and the provenance behind it.”
Mòr is Scottish Gaelic for “big” or “great”. The brand aims to emphasis the size and superior nature of the steelhead trout from Kames’ own broodstock programme, while stressing “Atlantic” identifies the fish as raised in the sea, with the clean water and strong currents of the Inner Hebrides – differentiating the product from river-based trout which can be associated with a muddy flavour.
Author: Robert Outram / Fish Farmer l Read the full article here
Rosrybolovstvo will hold an electronic auction on February 26 to distribute shares of crab catch quotas. Bids will be accepted through the Russian Auction House (JSC) electronic platform from 00:00 (Moscow time) on February 6, 2025, to 08:00 (Moscow time) on February 21, 2025.
Two lots, each representing 50% shares of catch quotas, are being re-auctioned with a 10% reduction in the starting price. These lots include:
Red snow crab in the Primorye subzone
Red snow crab in the West Sakhalin subzone
Snow crab angulatus in the East Sakhalin subzone
Snow crab angulatus in the North Okhotsk subzone
Successful bidders will be required to invest in the construction of two medium-tonnage (over 50 meters) crab fishing vessels.
Auction details and documentation are available on the following websites: GIS Trading, ETP RAD, and the Rosrybolovstvo website (in the "Auctions" section).
Source: Federal Agency for Fisheries (Rosrybolovstvo)
It reviews its commercial strategy, with a focus on the United States market, for which it appoints a consultant
Nueva Pescanova wants to leave losses behind and consolidate the return to profits recorded in 2024 with a new strategic and business plan, which is already being implemented in 2025, and which the company includes in the audited accounts for the year ending in March 2024, in which the incorporation of the new CEO, Jorge Escudero Hurtado, and the renewal of the top management took place.
Source: La Voz de Galicia l Read the full article here
The amount of marine macro litter (items larger than 2.5 cm) distributed on EU coasts has decreased by 29% in the period 2020-2021 compared to 2015-2016, according to the report "EU Coastline Macro Litter Trend". While the largest reduction in percentage terms is observed in the Baltic Sea (45%), major efforts in the Mediterranean and Black Sea have led to large reductions in absolute numbers of litter items on beaches, according to the report collected by the European Commission.
Source: Industrias Pesqueras l Read the full article here