The Mericq group continues its internationalization with the acquisition of the Spanish Mariscos Wildomar, a specialist in premium shellfish, particularly clams.

Agenais Group announced the acquisition of the Spanish company Mariscos Wildomar. Based in Irun, in the Spanish Basque Country, this company specializes in live shellfish and their purification. These are mainly Manila clams ( Ruditapes philippinarum ) and mussels, but also cockles, oysters, clams, winkles, vernix or tellines.

Customers are mainly Spanish and French wholesalers. The Wildomar company was founded in 2008 by two passionate French people: Henri Izquierdo on production and William Goulay on the business side. The first to retire, his partner chose to leave at the same time. "We started the adventure together, it made sense to finish it together! “, explains William Goulay. “ Mericq takes over, with the same passion for the product, suppliers and customers ,” says Bruno Sachet, director of the Mericq group.

Funny point, it's another duo who will take over: Stéphane Planes, the Mericq shellfish buyer for more than 20 years will settle in Irun with his assistant, Gildas Parmentier.

Source: pdm-seafoodmag (translated fro original in french)

Audens Food consolidates in the top3 of frozen convenience foods

Audens Food, a specialist in frozen foods, reaffirms its position as one of the three main operators in the convenience food market, after continuing to increase the volume of product sold.

The firm, which has five production plants, has continued its annual investment cycle, while it has focused on new products, which are a trend in the convenience food market.

Author/Source: Ana B. SÁNCHEZ/Alimarket (Read the complete news here)

Ecuador’s annual seafood exports to the United States are now under threat due to the South American country’s failure to meet U.S. standards for limiting whale and dolphin bycatch. 

Ecuador’s seafood exports to the U.S. total about USD 1.6 billion (EUR 1.46 billion) annually. The U.S. imported 226,480 metric tons (MT) of fisheries products from Ecuador in 2021, including tuna, shrimp, mahi, and swordfish.

Author: Christian Molinari / SeafoodSource | Read the full article here

Diving head first into oyster farming straight out of university, Ewan McAsh faced a steep learning curve and tackled all sorts of challenges – from management to financing. Sixteen years later, as a seasoned and innovative oyster farmer, McAsh launched Oceanfarmr* in 2017 to provide oyster (and subsequently mussel and seaweed) farmers with access to financing, digital operation capabilities and ESG services... all in the palms of their hands.

Author: Linda Chen / TheFishSite | Read the full article here

The national director of Sernapesca, Soledad Tapia, came to Puerto Montt to welcome the new regional director, introduce him to the work teams and the regional authorities.

After finishing the Senior Public Management contest, Cristian Hudson Martignani took office on Monday, May 15, as the new regional director of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) in the Los Lagos region.

Source: Aqua | Read the full article here

The initiative led and promoted by the Compañía Minera del Pacífico and executed together with Acústica Marina in Chile, under the Puerto Cruz Grande project, has had its first two buoys installed in the sea and operating since February. These first "Hydroacoustic Buoys", located in the town of Chungungo, have as their main objective to monitor and map underwater noise to safeguard whales and marine fauna.

Since its installation, it has mainly been monitoring marine fauna and identifying different types of vessels.

Source: IndustriasPesqueras | Read the full article here

Over the past year Macduff Ship Design has been expanding its Vessel Survey services, with two employees gaining SNT Level II in Ultrasonic Thickness Hull Gauging in April 2022.  This has enabled the company to offer UT Gauging either as a standalone survey or to supplement a statutory survey.  In January 2023, Macduff Ship Design broadened its relationship with aquaculture company Scottish Sea Farms (SSF), when its SCMS-accredited examiner undertook mid-term surveys on two of the SSF vessels. Macduff Ship Design’s growing survey capability further complements its well-established design business, with several aquaculture vessels on order and in build in 2023.

Source: FishFarmer | read the full article here

On Wednesday 24 May 2023, the Committee on Fisheries will hold a public hearing entitled “The future of fishing – How to promote income diversification and facilitate access to EU funding for fishers”.

The Commission recently proposed a controversial “action plan” to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems, along with other initiatives implementing the European Green Deal. 

Source: FishFocus | read the full article here

The expected action by truckers, fishermen and others is taking place today, in response to the Danish government’s stance on road transport taxes that are seen as discriminatory as some sectors are harder hit than others.

Some haulage operators had already begun their disruptive action on Sunday night, aiming to paralyse Denmark’s road network. Police are reporting significant disruption to traffic.

The action is being supported by close to a hundred fishing vessels with actions at the ports of Hirtshals, Helsingør and Frederikshavn.

The Hanstholm auction had already warned vessel operators to avoid landing catches during the days around the action, concerned that this could lead to fish not reaching buyers or catches being sold at knock-down prices.

Author: Quentin Bates / FiskerForum

Wärtsilä LNG reliquefaction retrofit contract reduces costs and emissions

Technology group Wärtsilä will supply the reliquefaction system for a retrofit project on an LNG carrier vessel converted to operate as a floating storage unit (FSU). The vessel, the ‘Energos Grand’ is owned by Connecticut, USA based operator Energos Infrastructure, and is being chartered by New Fortress Energy. The order was booked by Wärtsilä in March 2023.

The Wärtsilä system allows the boil-off-gas (BOG) from the LNG onboard to be reliquefied and returned to the cargo tanks rather than being wasted. The solution contributes to a significant reduction in emissions and creates cost savings, as well as optimizing the LNG cargo level.

The Wärtsilä equipment is scheduled for delivery during the second half of 2024.