Trade marketing body Seafood Scotland and ten companies from across Scotland's seafood industry headed to Boston at the weekend for Seafood Expo North America (SENA), the territory's largest seafood exposition.

As its largest global project, Seafood Scotland hosted 10 Scottish companies on its Scottish pavilion with a further eight attending the event, all there to meet buyers face-to-face and capitalize on the commercial opportunities in the North American market.

Source: FishFocus | Read the full article here

According to the industry monitoring system, by March 14, 2023, the capelin catch in the Northern Fisheries Basin amounted to 21 thousand tons, or 85.4% of the national quota of the Russian Federation, which is almost 17% higher than in 2022.

Based on the results of the 52nd session of the Joint Russian-Norwegian Fisheries Commission (SRC, October 2022), the national quota of Russia was agreed in the amount of 24.6 thousand tons and distributed among 21 Russian users of aquatic biological resources.

During the reporting period, 5-6 vessels were fishing in the exclusive economic zone of Russia and one vessel in Norwegian waters.

The catches are dominated by capelin of good size: males - 17-17.5 cm, females - 15.2-15.5 cm.

Source:  Federal Agency for Fishery

Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (MFRI) has recommended a sizable cut in the capelin fishing in Icelandic waters for the 2022/2023 season. 

For the 2021/2022 season, MFRI originally suggested a total allowable catch (TAC) of 400 000 tonnes, but later revised this upwards to 904 000 tonnes, amount which at a later stage was reduced to 869 600tonnes.

For the 2022/2023 season, MFRI suggested a TAC of 400 000 tonnes. But again, they revised this advice in the course of the year down to just 218 400 tonnes. This would represent a 75 percent reduction from the final TAC of 2021/2022.

Russian and Norwegian scientists have agreed on a slight reduction in the Barents Sea capelin quota for 2023. The capelin stock has grown very little over the past 12 months, and they consequently suggested that the TAC be reduced from 70 000 tonnes in 2022 to 62 000 tonnes in 2023. This quota is divided between the Russian Federation and Norway, with 40 percent for the Russian Federation (24 800 tonnes) and Norway 60 percent (37 200 tonnes). The Russian Federation and Norway continue their dialogue on fishing quotas despite the conflict in Ukraine.

Source: Globesh/FAO

White spot virus affects shrimp size

Farmed shrimp production is an important source of income for Mexican aquaculturists, but this activity is threatened by infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) and white spot virus (WSSV) infection, which negatively affect the health of crustaceans and cause serious economic problems.

Faced with this situation, the Laboratory of Immunology and Molecular Biology of the Cinvestav Unit Mérida, headed by Rossanna Rodríguez Canul, has carried out studies in conjunction with other institutions in the country, both in the Pacific and the Atlantic, with the purpose of observing the health conditions of the farmed and wild-sourced shrimp.

In addition, the laboratory is monitoring the north coast of the Yucatan peninsula and has found that two species of wild shrimp are infected with IHHNV in a port in the state of Yucatan, which suggests the need for more exhaustive epidemiological studies on these species. virus in the Gulf of Mexico.

Source: gov.mx

According to Taiwanese news broadcaster TVBS News, an "automated prawn deshelling device" was recently invented by a group of primary school students from Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Inspired by a personal aversion to peeling prawns

In the interview, one of the students candidly shared that the inspiration behind the useful contraption came from a personal aversion to peeling prawns.

The students hoped that the device can also help children and the elderly who have trouble deshelling prawns.

Made using a 3D printer

Using a 3D printer and with the support of their teacher, their vision was brought to life.

The group had tried and failed a total of seven times, before coming up with a feasible design that could be successfully constructed.

Source: mothership

Seafish is currently working with UK shellfish producers on measures to help maintain the quality of the water at farms.

Seafish is the public body supporting the seafood industry. Dr Eunice Pinn, the organisation’s Marine Environment Regulation Advisor, said bivalve shellfish production is an important economic growth area for UK aquaculture, but the sustainability of the industry depends on clean and healthy coastal waters.

Author: Vince McDonagh / FishFarmer | read the full article here

PAPUA New Guinea is to implement new standard certification for fishing vessel crews, says Fishing Industry Association president and chairman Sylvester Pokajam.

It launched the fairness, integrity, safety and health standard certification on Friday.

The standard certification was developed to make sure that fishing vessel crew members were treated fairly in terms of their welfare.

Pokajam said it cost US$50,000 (about K171,268) to get the certification but that it was worth the investment, as it was like buying into the premium market.

“This certification is a step forward (as) the European Union will only buy Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fish now,” he said.

“It took us a little over two years from 2018 to 2020 to attain this certificate from the MSC.

“All members of the association will now enjoy the benefits of the market.”

All association vessel are covered under the certificate.

The annual fee for the certification is US$15,000 (about K51,380).

National Fisheries Authority executive manager, licensing and information system Leban Gisawa said the standard was important in promoting best practices for fishing vessel crews, saying that labour laws needed to protect them too.

Source: thenational

Following the adoption of the Partnership Agreement 2021-2027 with Slovakia, the Commission has adopted the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) Programme for Slovakia, to implement the EU common fisheries policy (CFP) and EU policy priorities outlined in the European Green Deal. The total financial allocation for the Slovak programme 2021-2027 is €20.4 million over the next six years, of which the EU contribution accounts for €15.2 million.

The EMFAF Programme for Slovakia will help build a stronger aquaculture and processing sector in Slovakia, support innovation in productive investments, help the decarbonisation of the sectors by improving their energy efficiency, improve the market organisation and increase profitability and sustainability of the entire market chain, enhancing the role of aquaculture farms as providers of environmental services, while also ensuring the improved traceability of fish products.

Source: oceans and fisheries

The Skretting company will be in charge of formulating and manufacturing the food for the tuna.

The world market for Atlantic bluefin tuna is almost entirely based on wild-capture fishing, but the German company Next Tuna is willing to break barriers and will build the first aquaculture facility for the breeding of this species in the port of Castellón. tuna.

It will do so on a scale large enough to make it commercially viable and, to achieve this, it will have a state-of-the-art facility based on recent scientific advances in tuna farming, which will apply them on the ground in a production system. Fully controlled floating RAS.

Source: alimarket

Association of Shipowners of the Fishing Fleet (ASRF) and the Fish Union agreed on further joint actions to develop the domestic fish market within the framework of an agreement on cooperation between associations.

It was decided to constantly monitor prices and the range of fish products, conduct regular assessments of the compliance of the offer with the needs of tagging networks, promote dialogue between retailers and manufacturers on the platforms of industry associations to promote fish products to the domestic market, and discuss the necessary measures to protect the interests of all its participants.

The parties stressed that their partnership is aimed at developing and implementing measures to develop the domestic market and saturate it with high-quality, affordable and diverse fish products.

Source: Federal Agency of Fisheries (translated from original in russian)