The Chief Envoy of the European Union (EU) to Cambodia yesterday announced a new round of financial support for Cambodia to help the Kingdom’s government reform its fisheries sector.

The announcement was made by EU Ambassador Igor Driesmans while paying a courtesy call to Dith Tina, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF).

According to the Ambassador, the EU will release around $7 million in grants to the Ministry of Economic and Finance (MEF) to support key areas of the fisheries reform, such as monitoring, control, and surveillance; flooded forest protection; conservation of marine fisheries; transfer of grants to community fisheries; research; and food safety.

Cambodia’s economy and food security are significantly influenced by the fishing industry. Fish consumption was 52.4 kg/capita in 2021, and the fishing sector contributed 7-8% of the country’s GDP.

Launched in 2019 as the most important programme ever for the European Union to support the fisheries sector in a partner country and in Cambodia, the CAPFISH Programme (EUR 112 million) was implemented by the Fisheries Administration attached to the MAFF, supporting all pillars of the current national strategy in fisheries until 2025.[....]

Source: Taing Rinith / Khmer Times (translated from the original in English)

Research on digitalization has begun in Yamaguchi Prefecture's puffer (Tetraodontiformes) longline fishery to make fishing site selection more efficient.

The system automatically captures the temperature of the ocean floor where puffer fish are most commonly found, and displays it on a smartphone chart overlaid with the catch record, which can be used as a basis for deciding where to set the next line. The aim is to reduce costs and shorten operation time by leveraging the experience of fishermen and further exploring the correlation between environmental data and catches.

The research is being carried out under the "Smart Fisheries Social Implementation Promotion Project'' commissioned by Yamaguchi Prefecture, and is led by Associate Professor Hirofumi Matsumoto of the Fisheries College of the Fisheries Research and Education Organization.

Even if surface water temperatures and current speeds of the ocean are available, water temperatures and currents differ at depths of 100 meters or deeper, where puffers live. It was not possible to determine in which temperate zone they were most abundant, and as a result, the selection of fishing grounds was largely based on the experience and intuition of fishermen.[....]

Source: The Suizan-Keizai Daily News (translated from original in japanese)

Kaohsiung (CNA) A majority of Taiwan's long-distance saury fishing vessels have switched to using light emitting diodes (LEDs) to conduct saury fishery in the Pacificfor environmental reasons, the Kaohsiung City Government's Marine Bureau said Tuesday.

The methods for which fishermen catch squid or saury are similar, hence many boats venture out to sea twice a year to catch these two types of fish, the bureau said.

Citing an example, it said boats travel to the Southwest Atlantic to fish for squid in the first half of the year, return and then venture out again to fish for saury in the North Pacific in the following months.

The fishing for saury happens at night, with artificial light playing an important role in attracting the fish to nets.

In the past, fishermen often used incandescent light bulbs or high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps to get their catch, but these types of lighting tend to consume a lot of energy, the bureau said.[...]

Source: focustaiwan.tw

The Mauritanian Ministry of Fisheries announced the closure of sardinella fishing for shipowners operating in coastal and offshore segments due to alarming stock assessments.

A measure which may be lifted by the Mauritanian Institute of Oceanographic and Fisheries Research depending on the progress observed.

It is following evaluations by the Mauritanian Institute of Oceanographic and Fisheries Research (Imrop) having established abundance indices in continuous decline and reported an increase in sardinella mortality through fishing, that the Mauritanian Ministry of Fisheries has decided to close access to this resource.[...]

Source: Mélanie Chartier / Le Marin (translated from original in french)

President Ken Ikemi "One step toward a virtuous cycle in 2024, top management speaks''

On the 4th, Maruha Nichiro President Ken Ikemi held a year-end press conference at the company's headquarters in Tokyo, where he spoke of the need for "resilient'' business operations in a rapidly changing environment. 

"We will work on providing market-oriented products, ROIC (return on invested capital) management, and promoting innovation", Ikemi said. Responding to the decline in marine resources was a major issue.[....]

Source: Minato Yamaguchi (translated from original in japanese)

In order to thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on agriculture, rural areas, rural revitalization and publicity and ideological work, carry forward the spirit of distant-water fishermen who are brave in pioneering, not afraid of hardships, hard-working and tenacious, and move forward courageously, tell the story and highligh of China’s distant-water fisheries.

The style of the fishery industry, and through tree selection and publicity, it inspired pelagic fishermen to work hard and lead the industry team building. In 2022, the China Pelagic Fisheries Association launched the "Searching for the Most Beautiful Pelagic Fishermen" activity, and finally selected 15. Finally the professor Chen Xinjun from the School of Marine Science of Shanghai Ocean University was selected.

Chen Xinjun is a leader and pioneer in the science and technology of pelagic squid fishing in China; He is currently the dean and second-level professor of the School of Marine Science of Shanghai Ocean University. He is also the director of the National Pelagic Fishery Engineering Technology Research Center and the Ministry of Education's Key Laboratory of Sustainable Development of Ocean Fishery Resources.[...]

Source: The Paper·Government Affairs

The Fish Union came up with a proposal to ban the production of canned fish according to technical specifications (TU), which are subject to GOST standards in the country.

These are, for example, sprats in oil or natural saury. This initiative was announced during an open meeting of representatives of Rosselkhoznadzor and the fishing community, which the publication “Veterinary and Life” organized at the site of the VII International Fishery Forum in St. Petersburg.

Sergei Gudkov, head of the consumer market development department of the Fish Union, began his speech with a problem: Russians eat little fish, and the level of its consumption is declining. According to the Fishing Union, fish consumption in Russia has decreased by 30% since 2013. “No other food product has undergone such critical changes, and we attribute this to two reasons,” said Sergei Gudkov. One of them is the increase in the cost of fish raw materials, which is higher than inflation, in contrast to meat and dairy products. But this is not the main reason for the sharp decline in fish consumption, the speaker noted. “We came to the conclusion that the reduction in consumption is most influenced by the quality of products,” said a representative of the union.

Source: Vetand Life (translated from original in russian)

AOMORI – Fish wholesalers from the United States, Canada and Singapore started a business trip on Monday to four northeastern prefectures as the local fishing industry continues to reel from China's import ban on Japanese marine products.

The tour was organized by the government-linked Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) to help the country's fishery business operators find alternative buyers for their products.

The Chinese government has banned imports of Japanese marine products to protest against the release of treated water into the ocean from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in the Tohoku region.

The buyers from six companies, who are interested in scallops, yellowtail and sea urchin, observed an auction at a wholesale market in the city of Aomori on Monday morning.

Later, they inspected bluefin tuna caught off Aomori Prefecture and held a meeting with a local fishery wholesaler.

The wholesalers will, from Tuesday, visit fish markets and fishery business operators in the prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.

Source: The Japan Times

Europe is preparing to host the largest and most modern land-based shrimp farm in the world. Germany is preparing to launch an extraordinary initiative. Prawn farming company Aquapurna has partnered with German chemical company K+S to carry out this ambitious project in Sigmundshall, near Hanover.

Startup Aquapurna is collaborating with German fertilizer giant K+S to build this modern facility near Hanover, after securing a seven-figure investment from private investors.

Source: EuropaAzul | Read the full article here