Tasmania hosts crucial meeting for 28 Pacific nations to define sustainable fisheries and aquaculture strategies.

Top fisheries officials from 28 Pacific Community member countries and territories, including Fiji’s delegation led by Acting Director of Fisheries Nanise Kuridrani, are convening in Tasmania to collaboratively shape sustainable fisheries policy across the region and address critical ocean management and aquaculture challenges.

The high-level gathering brings together these leaders and technical experts to tackle pressing issues facing the Pacific, including overfishing, the impacts of climate change, ensuring food security, and charting the future of aquaculture within the diverse region.

Key discussions are centered on the strategic direction of the Pacific Community (SPC)’s vital Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems Division, encompassing its oceanic and coastal fisheries programmes.

The outcomes of this significant meeting are anticipated to directly inform policy decisions at the upcoming Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting and the influential Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting.

The Tasmania forum provides a crucial platform for participants to review the SPC’s ongoing work in the sector, establish new priorities to address evolving challenges, and explore innovative opportunities to strengthen national capacities in critical areas such as fisheries science, effective resource management, and meaningful community engagement.

GUANGZHOU, (Xinhua) -- At noon on Thursday, South China Sea waters north of the 12th parallel north entered a three-and-a-half-month annual fishing moratorium, according to China Coast Guard.

The South China Sea branch of China Coast Guard, in conjunction with marine fishery law enforcement departments and public security authorities in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan, has launched a special law enforcement operation for the 2025 South China Sea fishing moratorium to ensure its effective implementation.

Before the moratorium began, task forces boarded fishing boats and patrolled docks to make known relevant laws and regulations to local fishermen, ensuring that all boats were returned to port, all crew members came ashore and all fishing nets were stored. Law enforcement vessels have also been dispatched to patrol the jurisdictional waters to establish a strict presence from the start of the moratorium. Enditem

China launches world’s first salmon farming vessel. Its mission? to boldly farm where no salmon has been farmed before.

The world’s first industrial salmon farming vessel, Su Hai No. 1, departed from the Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard in Guangzhou on Tuesday for its maiden sea trial, heading 60 nautical miles into the South China Sea.

The 249.8-metre vessel—designed by the Fisheries Machinery and Instrument Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences—was built at a cost of nearly RMB 600 million ($82.4 million).

Author: Matthew Wilcox / SalmonBusiness l  Read the full article here

Scotland fish farmer Loch Duart has launched its own smoked salmon products, Signature Smoke and Double Smoked.

Loch Duart says the Signature Smoke is traditionally cured and smoked over oak shavings providing a subtle smokiness that pairs perfectly with the rich, savoury taste of the salmon for a more delicate flavour.

It adds that the Double Smoked salmon is smoked over oak and then whisky cask shavings, creating a robust, full-bodied smoky flavour.

Source: fishfarmingexpert l  Read the full article here

The U.S. shipping and logistics industry is beginning to feel the effect of the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese imports, and experts are warning U.S. consumers that they will soon start to see changes themselves. 

Investors Observer, a investment trade publication, analyzed the U.S. states that are most and least reliant on Chinese imports in order predict the economic fallout of tariffs. 

Unsurprisingly, the publication said that the nation’s two busiest ports, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, both in California, were likely to suffer from a drop in Chinese imports, since 25 percent of the state’s total imports – equivalent to 12 percent of the state’s GDP – come from China. 

Author: Erin Spampinato / SeafoodSource l  Read the full article here

At Our Ocean Conference in Busan, in the Republic of Korea, the European Union announced €301,485,000 in EU funding to support actions in the fields of the sustainable blue economy, marine pollution, marine protected areas, digital oceans, sustainable fisheries, and ocean and climate change.

This year's conference, celebrating its 10th anniversary, will showcase the accomplishments, and best practices stemming from the voluntary commitments made by the global ocean community over the past decade. Under the umbrella of 'Digital Oceans', the conference will convene to explore the intersection of technology and ocean conservation, with a focus on the above six critical areas.

EU commitments for a safe, secure, clean, healthy and sustainably managed ocean

The European Union is committed to the following actions:

Reston, VA – We are pleased to see Senator Sullivan and his colleagues making progress on a responsible effort to address Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

We strongly support the FISH Act legislation that works to actively address IUU concerns unlike the current Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) that NOAA itself has concluded, “does not prevent or stop IUU fish and fish products from entering U.S. commerce.”

Lisa Wallenda Picard

President & CEO

NFI - National Fisheries Institute