Trudeau government legislation that enshrines the independence of Atlantic Canada's inshore fishing fleets and enhances protections for fish stocks and fish habitat has cleared the Senate.

The news is a relief to Martin Mallet.

"This is great news. We've been waiting for this for a long while," said Mallet, executive director of the Maritime Fishermen's Union.

Inshore fishery associations like his lobbied hard for Bill C-68, which overhauls the Fisheries Act.

It will give the teeth of law to two key policies designed to prevent inshore fisheries — including lobster — from ending up in the hands of a few large companies.

Source: CBC

Earlier this week, Norway’s Directorate of Fisheries was reporting that the crisis in Nordland and Troms appeared to have peaked and that the algae was on the wane.

But on June 9th of 2019, new instances of fish mortality were reported at two sites in Troms belonging to Lerøy Aurora.

The Directorate said water samples had been taken for preliminary assessments to determine whether this was the start of something new, or related to the outbreak which started two weeks ago.

Source: Fisher Farmer Magazine

We have a long history of trying to use animals as spies, weapons and warning systems, but the latest plans to use marine organisms as motion sensors may be the strangest yet.

When a beluga whale was spotted wearing a harness recently, some speculated that it had been trained to spy for the Russian army.

That's not as far-fetched as it sounds. Ever since the 1960s, the US Navy has been training dolphins to detect mines and help rescue lost naval swimmers. Russia's been known to do the same.

Source: BBC

The New Zealand China Trade Association announced the winners of their HSBC NZCTA China Business Awards at a ceremony in Auckland last night. These are arguably New Zealand’s most important acknowledgement of the deepening trade and investment relationship between China and New Zealand.

The Supreme Award winner (overall winner from six categories) was the Fiordland Lobster Company. The company was also the winner of the NZCTA’s trade award category (the Trade & Enterprise award for trade between China and New Zealand).

The Fiordland Lobster Company is New Zealand’s largest exporter of live Fiordland Rock Lobster, a high quality, high value, cold water lobster. Marketed under the KiwiLobster brand, the fish is flown by helicopter live from its landing by Fiordland fishermen (and also by fishermen in other areas such as Mahia, Otago and the Wairarapa) to processors in New Zealand. The catch is then air-exported from Christchurch or Auckland to international destinations, the chief of which is China. The fast export, receipt of product and on-sale to Chinese consumers has been made possible through an increase in air services between China and New Zealand.

Source: Scoop

AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AQB) (“AquaBounty” or the “Company”), a biotechnology company focused on enhancing productivity in the aquaculture market, is pleased to announce the appointment of David F. Melbourne, Jr. as Chief Commercial Officer effective on June 17, 2019, and the commencement of the commercial production of AquAdvantage Salmon at the Company’s Indiana farm.

Mr. Melbourne joins AquaBounty from Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, the largest branded seafood company in North America, where he served as Senior Vice President of Consumer Marketing, Government & Industry Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility.  He previously held senior positions at Castleberry/Snow’s Brands, Inc., primarily in operations and marketing.  As the Company begins its commercialization of AquAdvantage Salmon, Mr. Melbourne’s 25 years of marketing and strategic planning experience will be a strong asset to AquaBounty in developing its customer business model.

Source: Aqua Bounty

With the global population of sharks now depleted by 90 per cent following decades of overfishing, the federal Liberal government is poised to ban shark fin imports in Canada.

Although shark finning in domestic waters was outlawed in 1994, Canada is the third largest importer of shark fins outside of Asia. The top importers of shark fins globally are mainland China and Hong Kong, where shark fin soup is a popular delicacy among the wealthy.

In 2018 alone, Canada imported over 148,000 kilograms of shark fins, a product worth in excess of CAD 3.2 million, according to data compiled by Statistics Canada.

Source: CBC

LISBON - Police seized over a tonne of cocaine worth some $49 million and arrested seven people aboard a Brazilian fishing boat in a drug bust on the high seas off Portugal backed up by international crime agencies, officials said on Tuesday.

Portuguese police discovered 50 cloth sacks full of cocaine, apparently destined for the continental European market, inside a specially designed, hard-to-access compartment of the fishing vessel, a police statement said. The suspects arrested were all foreign nationals aged between 36 and 64, it added.

Codenamed “White Sand”, the anti-drug operation began following an exchange of information between Portuguese and Brazilian authorities, and was assisted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Britain’s National Crime Agency.

Source: Reuters

TRÀ VINH – The C?u Long (Mekong) Delta province of Trà Vinh is entering the mud crab harvest season and its Fisheries Sub-department expects the output to increase sharply this since the farming area has expanded.ç

In the province, one of the delta’s largest mud crab producers, farmers breed the crustacean mostly in Châu Thành, C?u Ngang, Duyên H?i, and Trà Cú districts and Duyên H?i Town.

Authorities have told farmers that the period for releasing shrimp and mud crab fry for breeding in the 2018 – 19 season was from December last year to September this year.

Source: Viet Nam News

These notices are a courtesy to Atlantic tuna fishery interests to keep you informed about the fishery. Official notice of federal fishery actions is made through a filing with the Office of the Federal Register.

These reports should not be considered useful for real-time catch monitoring purposes. It only includes landings reported to NOAA Fisheries to date. The numbers are considered preliminary and are subject to change. Catch statistics from previous months are available below or by contacting Brad McHale at 978-281-9260.

Source: NOAA Fisheries

Yet there are many areas in this industry that are in dire need of innovation. Today, I will focus on my top 5: disease prevention, vaccine delivery, fish meal replacement, sustainability solutions (including closed-loop farming) and supply chain management.

Tremendous opportunity exists right now for those interested in investing in the solutions to these issues. Let’s take a look at the five key areas mentioned, and how several forward-thinking companies are meeting them head on.

Disease prevention
Disease prevention is a critical aspect of aquaculture. Changing ocean temperatures and water quality make animals and plants more stressed and susceptible to disease, yet innovation is lacking in prevention compared to land-based agriculture. Terrestrial food animal farmers can easily deploy dozens of vaccines and preventative solutions, while aquaculture has less choice and significant delivery challenges (more on this below). Vaccines are still administered by hand, and there simply aren’t good preventive measures for many infestations.

Source: Techaccel