Seafish, the public body that supports the £10bn UK seafood industry, published its results looking at UK consumers’ attitudes and behaviours regarding seafood. It commissioned the ‘State of the Nation’ research as part of its work to drive further seafood consumption in the UK.

The findings of the research reveal that only one third followed the NHS public health recommendation to eat two portions of fish a week. However, over half (55%) of consumers would like to eat more seafood. The research also uncovered some key consumer attitudes and preferences around seafood, with findings showing that that 70% of the fish buying public think that sustainability is important and that telling consumers about the specific health benefits of fish would encourage over 70% of them to eat more.

Greg Smith, head of marketing at Seafish, said, “The State of the Nation project contains some of our most important research to date, helping us better understand UK consumers.

Source: The Caterer

Plastic is building up in the areas of the ocean where fish feed and grow, according to research.

A study found bits of plastic outnumber baby fish by seven to one in nursery waters off Hawaii.

It appears that the same ocean processes that concentrate prey for juvenile fish also accumulate floating plastics.

Source: BBC

TRURO, NOVA SCOTIA - Northeast Nutrition Inc. celebrated the expansion of its fish feed mill in the Truro Business Park in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The facility produces salmon feed for Cooke Aquaculture’s operations in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Maine. Northeast Nutrition was established by Cooke in 2007 after the former Shur-Grain aquaculture feed mill plant was purchased from Nutreco.

Source: World Grain

Nova Q sees predictability in water treatment as being of core importance to the future success of RAS aquaculture.

In the opening comments to RAS-Tec, the global Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) conference held in Washington earlier this year, AquaBounty’s Sylvia Wulf set the scene: over the next 30 years, the global demand for fish protein will double. Now, in 2019, 90% of our seas are overfished; meaning 100% of this new demand will have to be provided by farmed fish.

The recent Aquaculture Frontiers market report on RAS aquaculture from Spheric Research and UCN identified 10 areas where RAS needed to develop to fulfil its potential. Four of those challenges related to biological filters, and specifically the effective management of ammonia and nitrate in the recirculating water.

Source: Government Europa

NICE - The EU-funded HiSea Project will reveal the first prototype of its state-of-the-art platform providing high resolution data of sea water quality, at the project's General Assembly scheduled to take place in Nice, France on November 25-26, 2019.    

During its final stage, the innovative HiSea platform will provide data on physical parameters (meteorology, waves, currents, etc.) and water quality parameters (chlorophyll, marine pollution, etc.), based on the accumulated knowledge and experience of existing partners' proven platforms such as FEWS or AQUASAFE.  

The platform is built on an end-user centred approach, involving various end-users and stakeholders from the port and aquaculture industries. They have been directly involved in the service's design, development and operation. The HiSea system is aimed at improving the operation, planning and management of a variety of marine activities, focusing on the port and aquaculture sectors.

Source: PR Newswire

Japan's certification system for protecting marine resources, called Marine Eco-Label Japan (MEL), is expected to be approved as an international standard by the end of this year, government sources said.

With eco-conscious Western nations in mind, Japan hopes to promote its efforts to show consideration for the Earth, thus boosting exports of domestic fishery products.

Established by the Japan Fisheries Association in 2007, MEL is a certification system aimed at maintaining the sound operations of the fisheries industry. Certified merchants can attach labels to their products to differentiate themselves from others.

Source: SF Gate

Aquaculture in Sweden could be more sustainable if by-products from industrial feed production were used instead of wild-caught aquafeed, according to studies at the University of Gothenburg.

One of the most important challenges in aquaculture is access to fishmeal. Demand outweighs supply today due to the rapid expansion of aquaculture.

A new thesis has studied farming of the two species Atlantic wolffish and European lobster.

Source: Phys

Chilean Multiexport Foods is developing a blockchain-based solution that will enable customers to trace the origin of its salmon sold at various outlets, just by scanning a QR code.

The firm started by salmon farmer and processor in 2017 to find ways of integrating technologies like Blockchain, Artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data, and the Internet of Things (IoT) with its processes.

It has created a remote feeding facility for salmon using Artificial Intelligence and a video system wherein salmon at multiple farming centers are fed from a central office, which subsequently cuts down the workforce required for manual feeding.

Source: Crypto NewsZ

The global aquaculture market accounted for USD 264,470.0 Mn in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.7% during the forecast period 2019 – 2027, to account to USD 509,743.0 Mn by 2027.

The Asia Pacific region held the largest market share in the global aquaculture market. The production and consumption rate of seafood is expanding rapidly with China and India being the major markets for the aquaculture industry. The Asia Pacific has evolved as the largest consumers and exporter of aquaculture products. Fisheries and aquaculture production highly contributor to national economies across the Asia-Pacific region over the past few years. The Asia Pacific market is characterized by the presence of players such as Bakkafrost, Cermaq Group AS, Farallon Aquaculture Group, Lerøy, Mowi ASA, Stolt-Nielsen Limited, and Tassal Group, among others.

Source: Analytics News

Demand for easy-to-prepare food such as processed meat and seafood is continuing to rise, in accordance with the appeal of convenience. However, retail shelf space devoted to chilled and frozen processed meat and seafood remains limited. Standard brands are giving big discounts to consumers, thus posing a threat to premium-positioned brands, which are not able to compete in terms of price. This has tended to restrict investment in packaging innovation in processed meat and seafood.

Processed Meat and Seafood Packaging in United Arab Emirates report offers insight into key trends and developments driving packaging across the category. The report also examines trends and prospect for various pack types and closures: metal packaging, rigid plastic, glass, liquid cartons, paper-based containers; flexible packaging.

Source: Market Watch