It will allocate 15 million for sustainable development and a similar amount to energy efficiency

The French Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin, Minister of the Sea, and the Minister of Agriculture and Food, Julien Denormandie, have announced a recovery plan for fisheries and aquaculture of 50 million euros; a fund that aims to accelerate the development of sustainable and innovative fisheries and aquaculture, contributing to the competitiveness of the entire sector. The two calls are now open and applications can be submitted.

Source: Industrias Pesqueras | Read the full article here

A new report by a cadre of scientists and members of environmental NGOs is calling on the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to take further action to combat the practice of shark-finning.

The report, which analyzed the MSC’s policies relating to shark-finning, asserts that the organization should adopt a “fins naturally attached” (FNA) policy in order to curtail – and hopefully eliminate – shark-finning. The council is failing its zero-tolerance policy on shark-finning, a press release from the organizations behind the report said.

Author: Chris Chase / SeafoodSource | Read the full article here

A design of aquaculture pen which is billed as “the world’s most advanced aquaculture steel cage system” is set to be deployed in Scotland for the first time.

The Trident hybrid steel cage was developed by Poseidon Ocean Systems to cope with high energy conditions off the coast of British Columbia. It uses flexible HDPE pipes to improve safety and stability, while lowering the overall operational costs of salmon farming. The new design has been ordered by salmon producer Loch Duart, through aquaculture distributor Trimara Services.

Source: The Fish Site | Read the full article here

FAO has published the Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular under the title "Tilapia Aquaculture in Mexico - Assessment with a focus on social and economic performance".

As stated in the document, world aquaculture production of tilapia grew from 380,000 tonnes in 1990 to 6 million tonnes in 2018, making it the fourth largest group of species within global aquaculture. With regard to Mexico, and as far as aquaculture is concerned, tilapia is the second most important group with 53,000 tons of production; accounting for around 20 percent of the 247,000 tonnes of total aquaculture production in 2018.

Source: iPac.acuicultura | Read the full article here

Plans for two million tonnes of land-based salmon will bring radical changes to the entire industry.

10-15 years ago, recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) were a Danish industry. A small number of Danish companies traveled the world building facilities. Mostly smolt sites, but eventually also some smaller harvest-sized fish farms. What the fish farms had in common is that they did not make money. The fish had sky-high fixed costs, as total production costs were distributed in quite a small amount of kilos.

At the time, the salmon price was between EUR 3 and EUR 3.5 per kilo. Land-based production costs were much higher. Sea cage farmed salmon could be produced considerably cheaper. RAS was not competitive.

Author: Aslak Berge / SalmonBusiness | Read the full article here

Russia’s pollock season, which began on 1 January, is in serious jeopardy as its primary market, China, has shut out Russian imports, citing COVID-19 safety measures.

Russia sells to 61 percent of its national seafood exports – worth nearly USD 3.3 billion (EUR 2.74 billion) – to China, with Russia's pollock exports to China worth USD 580 to USD 600 million (EUR 482 to EUR 499 million).

The Chinese market became significantly harder for Russian seafood companies to access after Chinese customs authorities announced in January they had found strains of live COVID-19 on the packaging of seafood imported from Russia. In response, China said it would increase the frequency and thoroughness of its inspections of imported Russian seafood.

Author: Ivan Stupachenko / SeafoodSource | Read the full article here

This year’s capelin season has finally started for the Icelandic fleet, with the first landings to Neskaupstaður, Vopnafjörður and the Westman Islands. Fishing has been in the Meðallandsbugt area west of Ingólfshöfði. These are the first landings of fresh capelin in Iceland since 2018, as both 2019 and 2020 seasons were zero-quota years.

With a limited quota this year, fishing is focused on landing for production ashore, and there has been no real hurry for the fleet to get to work. 

Author: Quentin Bates / FiskerForum | Read the full article here

Five industry stakeholders are calling for urgent action to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, a practice which costs the seafood sector up to US$36.4 billion annually.

The five groups, which together represent more than 150 companies, are Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship, the Global Tuna Alliance, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability, and the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative.

In their ‘Statement on Traceability and Port State Measures’, the groups call on governments to implement control measures aligned with the FAO’s Agreement on Port State Measures, an international treaty that requires port inspections and other measures to prevent IUU catch from being brought ashore.

Source: Worldfishing | Read the full article here

The fishermen could not find the long-awaited mackerel they hoped to capture, on the first day of the official campaign for the species. The wind played a trick on them and they had to be content with catches of sardines, "quite fat", at a price of 1.50 to 2.10 euros-kilo. However, the inshore fleet can be calm because instead of 65% of the total allowable catches (TAC) - as agreed by the Ministers of the Twenty-seven last December - they will be able to fish 72% in this first quarter, which has meant a relief for the sector, which was already seeing a very short campaign. 

Source: EuropaAzul | Read the full article here

Additional data on this topic will be made available to the public in a webinar to be held this Wednesday.

As a matter of urgency, the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca) requested technical information from the Fisheries Development Institute (IFOP) to assess the possible causes of fish stranding off the coast of the south-central zone of the country.

According to preliminary IFOP data, varazones are events that usually occur in spring and summer, due to the rise of water masses with very low oxygen content (anoxic) towards the coast.

Source: aqua.cl | Read the full article here