A new report on seafood jobs in Alaska notes that fishery harvest employment declined by 4.9 percent in 2018, erasing most of the gains seen a year earlier.

That total decline of about 407 average annual jobs brought the state’s overall employment in harvesting down to 7,924 posts, wrote state labor economist Joshua Warren in the November edition of Alaska Economic Trends, a publication of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Salmon fisheries statewide lost 7.2 percent, or 328 jobs, over a year earlier, the major exception being Bristol Bay, where employment approached a decade high of 1,148, Warren said. Groundfish harvesting employment, which spiked a year earlier, dropped back to its previous level of about 1,195. Despite the 9.1 percent, or 120 job drop in groundfish jobs, 2018 total employment for that sector remained high relative to past years.

Source: Cordova Times

The bid is not entirely unexpected as Bakkafrost CEO Regin Jacobsen suggested as much in September, when the sale to the Faroese salmon farmer was first announced. But it has probably come sooner than expected.

Initially, Bakkafrost purchased 68.6 per cent of the shares from the investment fund Northern Link, the then majority owners, for £517 million. Since then, the holding has been increased to just over 80 per cent.

At the weekend it declared that it will make a mandatory bid for all the shares it does not currently own.

Source: Fish Farmer Magazine

Alfa Laval – a world leader in heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling – opens an Innovation & Test center for decanters in Søborg, northwest of Copenhagen, Denmark, to strengthen the company's global position within food and water, which are two important growth areas for the company.

The purpose of the new Innovation & Test center is to develop, test and optimize the next generation of decanters and be a global knowledge hub for food and water applications. The center will be located at Alfa Laval’s site in Søborg – and as a first step, cover 2,000 square meters.

Global harvests of farmed Atlantic salmon are expected to grow by around 4–5 percent in 2019. Norway, the world’s leading producer, started the year strongly while the Scottish sector is recovering volumes following a steep decline last year. However, higher production forecasts for 2019 made earlier in the year now seem too optimistic given the dual impact of the loss of approximately 8 million fish due to a severe algal bloom in Norway and reports of new fish health issues at farms in Chile. The more recent figure is comparable to growth rates observed in 2017 and 2018, continuing a relatively steady growth trend that is bringing some stability to the market.

Production in Norway was up year-on-year after the first quarter of 2019 and accelerated significantly in May as the arrival of the algal bloom in the north of the country prompted mass harvesting by farmers looking to save marketable fish. Although blooms have occurred before in Norway, this was reportedly the worst the country has seen in decades. The phenomenon, which can cause fish mortality through asphyxiation, occurs only when conditions are optimal but can be triggered by warming water temperatures. Total lost production, in terms of lost biomass converted to average harvested weight, amounted to some 40 000 tonnes with financial losses estimated at around NOK 2.2 billion (USD 225 million). In response, the Norwegian government will allow affected salmon farmers to apply for a fiveyear exemption from the capacity limitations connected to their salmon licenses.

Source: FAO

A group of fisheries and wildlife advocates were in St. John’s court Wednesday 6th of November 2019 asking for stricter environmental assessment of Newfoundland and Labrador’s expanding aquaculture industry.

The applicants say the province’s former environment minister acted unlawfully when he determined a proposed salmon hatchery project did not require further environmental assessment.

The proposed Indian Head hatchery in Stephenville would see more than 2 million salmon released into existing sea cages owned by Northern Harvest Sea Farms.

James Gunvaldsen Klaassen of the environmental law group Ecojustice argued in provincial Supreme Court that the minister’s decision was invalid because he did not consider what happens after the newly hatched fish are released into the cages.

Source: Global News

Vietnam has good potential for the development of the seafood sector, he said. In 2018, the country’s seafood output totaled 7.7 million tons. Vietnam shipped USD 9 billion worth of seafood to foreign countries in 2019.

Between January and October 2019, Vietnam fetched USD 7.1 billion from seafood exports.

“With these results, Vietnam has become one of the world’s leading seafood exporters,” he said, adding that the strong growth of the seafood industry has driven up the country’s socioeconomic development and created a number of jobs for locals.

Source: Vietnam Net

Direct Seafoods Director of Sustainability & Epicurean Laky Zervudach on the importance of the “story” in salmon.

Major wholesale seafood and fish supplier Direct Seafoods supplies caterers big and small around the UK with fresh and frozen fish. Talking to SalmonBusiness, Zervudach reflected on the importance of sustainability.

During a panel with Veramaris Global Business Development Director Ian Carr and Fair Seas Limited Director Mike Mitchell at the Aquaculture Innovation conference in September, Zervudachi praised the algal oil producer Veramaris for their raw material algae feed additive.

Source: Salmon Business

Following elections for the new IFFO Management Board (starting 1st January 2020), IFFO – The Marine Ingredients Organisation is pleased to announce that the incoming President is Anne-Mette Bæk and Vice President is Gonzalo de Romaña.

Anne Mette Bæk is the Executive Director of Marine Ingredients Denmark representing the Danish fishmeal and fish oil industry. She also heads the international association of the European fishmeal and fish oil producers: EU Fishmeal. Anne Mette has been a member of the IFFO Board of directors since 2014.

Gonzalo de Romaña is the CEO of Peruvian fishmeal and fish oil producer Tecnológica de Alimentos (TASA). He has been a member of the IFFO Board of Directors since 2018.

IFFO is an international trade organisation that represents and promotes member companies in the fishmeal and fish oil industry worldwide. Enjoying global respect and recognition, we represent our members at all relevant international forums, including holding observer status at the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the EU Commission and Parliament and work with leading NGOs in responsible management of fisheries.

Bangkok - The Asia-Pacific region is taking important preparatory steps to strengthen the governance of aquaculture for sustainable development and future food security, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today.

Following four decades of advancements, aquaculture has surpassed capture fisheries to become the major source of fish for human consumption in Asia. Total production of aquaculture reached 103 million tonnes in 2017, and that fish supplied some 60 percent of food fish for human consumption. In 2017, the average per capita fish consumption in Asia reached 24 kg, contributing 23 percent of animal protein in Asian diets.

Asian aquaculture also provides an important source of livelihoods for rural communities as well as creating job opportunities in related supporting sectors, such as input manufacture, construction, processing, trade and other service sectors. It has engaged over 18 million fish farmers in primary production and nearly equal numbers of job opportunities in related supporting sectors.

Source: Scoop

KUALA LUMPUR - Sabah has recorded the highest number of fish bomb cases since 2014, which is 234 cases out of the total 239 cases nationwide so far, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Sim Tze Tzin said of the total, 36 cases had been charged in court.

In Sabah alone, there were 55 arrests in 2014, 38 in 2015, 43 in 2016, 35 in 2017, 24 in 2018 and 39 in 2019.

“This means that there are only five cases outside of Sabah, (this problem) is extremely prevalent in Sabah,” he said during the oral question-and-answer session, in response to Ahmad Hassan (Warisan-Papar) who wanted to know the action against fishermen who use fish bombs.

Source: Bernama