Prawn lovers are facing higher-than-normal prices this Christmas as the drought continues to have an impact on supply.

Professional Fishermen's Association CEO Tricia Beatty said the drought was taking a toll.

"It's a well-established fact that when you have drought on land, you have drought in water," Ms Beatty said.

"When you go to the land and see a farmer and his crops, you can see how they are directly impacted by the drought."

Source: ABC

A 36-hour fish market frenzy has kicked off in Sydney, as shoppers scramble for their Christmas seafood staples.

The Sydney Fish Market opened at 5am on Monday and will not close again until 5pm on Tuesday.

Market spokeswoman Stephanie Margrain says about 100,000 people are expected to buy 700 tonnes of seafood, including 130 tonnes of prawns.

"Prawns and oysters are always favourites at Christmas time and people will be glad to know that supply is plentiful for both of those items and prices are comparable to last year."

Source: 7News

They are considered a high-end "white tablecloth" product and global demand for redclaw crayfish — native to northern Australia — is growing at a rapid rate.

Now a north Queensland company in the process of patenting technology to increase hatching rates for crayfish eggs could change the face of Australian aquaculture.

Australian Crayfish Hatchery (ACF), based in Townsville, has developed an in vitro embryo incubation method for redclaw crayfish, producing thousands of juveniles each breeding.

Source: ABC

Norway has mapped and identified 11 extensive new zones down its 1,650-mile long coastline that could be suitable for the future development of sea based offshore aquaculture.

The Directorate of Fisheries, which carried out the work in co-operation with the Institute of Marine Research, said the areas will probably have to go through further impact assessment before final approval.

The mapping has been limited to parts of the coast one nautical mile outside the baseline, but within Norway’s exclusive economic zone.

Source: Fish Farmer Magazine

AKVA group ASA (“AKVA”) hereby announces that its wholly owned subsidiary, AKVA group Land Based A/S, is the chosen technology supplier of a full grow-out RAS project for Atlantic Salmon to Nordic Aqua Partners, in China (“The Project”). The Project’s targeted harvest volumes are 8,000 tonnes in 2026. The realization of The Project and AKVA’s delivery is dependent upon certain conditions to the Project’s equity financing, which is scheduled to be concluded in January 2020.

The value of AKVA’s delivery is estimated to be NOK 500 million in the period 2020 to mid-2023. Further, AKVA will participate with 3,1 MEUR in equity in The Project. The equity participation is considered by AKVA to increase its opportunity for a close follow-up on all technical, operational and biological performance measures, to ensure successful project delivery.

AKVA group Chile S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of AKVA group ASA, has entered into a sales and supply contract with Cooke Aquaculture Inc. for delivery of a RAS facility in Chile. The contract value is 10,3 MEUR and delivery is expected to take place between Q1 2020 and Q4 2021.

The number of cod which can be legally caught by the UK's fishermen will be halved in 2020.

It was agreed in the early hours of Wednesday at Brussels talks on fishing quotas for 2020.

Prior to those discussions, representatives of Scottish trawlermen agreed to a 50% reduction in the cod catch in an effort to preserve stocks.

The UK government said that in order to protect the future of the industry it had to fish sustainably.

Source: BBC News

#EPlenary gave its consent for the conclusion of the EU-Gambia Sustainable #Fisheries Partnership Agreement

Rapporteur: @carmenavram

Link to agreement: https://t.co/4SRThNbpZ9)@EP_ThinkTank briefing: https://t.co/1uxr5jk1dV pic.twitter.com/I1CLE6MYY1

— PECH Committee Press (@EP_Fisheries) December 18, 2019

Following an investigation, the global services and accounting organisation KPMG delivered a potentially crushing verdict last week on the organisation, essentially saying its systems, planning and monitoring supervision practices were not fit for purpose.

KPMG also said that management, the use of resources and some aspects of security were simply not good enough, adding that significant improvements were urgently needed.

Seafood Norway, the body which represents fishing and aquaculture companies, has welcomed the report.

Its CEO, Geir Ove Ystmark, said Norway had market access to more than 140 countries so it was vital the seafood industry had an efficient and well-functioning food inspection body to watch over catching, processing and the entire value chain in the aquaculture sector.

Source: Fish Farmer Magazine

The Komsomolets sank 7 April 1989, after catching fire southwest of Bjørnøya in the Norwegian Sea. During the heroic attempts to extinguish the fire and save the reactor, and the ensuing ordeal in icy waters, 42 lives were lost, in one of the biggest tragedies in the history of the Soviet Navy.

The wrecked Soviet nuclear submarine Komsomolets is still leaking radioactive waste, 30 years after it sank southwest of Bjørnøya, a new report by the Norwegian Maritime Research Institute has confirmed.

This summer, the Institute of Marine Research, joined by their Russian colleagues and the Directorate of Radiation and Nuclear Safety (DSA), conducted direct research on the Komsomolets using a remotely controlled mini-sub, for the first time in thirty years.

Source: Sputnik News