The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is pleased to announce that six more Alaska seafood processors successfully met the requirements of the FAO-Based Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) Chain of Custody Certification - Glacier Fisheries, Seafood Producers Co-operative, Icicle Seafoods, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Canadian Fishing Company and Peter Pan Seafoods. These companies join Triad Fisheries who was certified in June of this year.

The RFM Chain of Custody certification means seafood buyers and their customers can have confidence that the seafood they are buying can be traced to an Alaska fishery that meets the RFM standard.

North Atlantic Seafood Forum (NASF) is moving home to Bergen after 8 years in Oslo. NASF is the world's largest seafood conference and a leading top executive meeting place. NASF attracts more than 550 executives from 350 companies and 30 countries from the global fishing and seafood industry every year. The NASF conference a 3 day event held the first week in March and organizes some 10 seminars with 100 speakers. The NASF arena covers trade, supply and demand, pricing, sustainability, politics and finance, with focus on business, future trends and market development. FAO is a seminar co-organizer, and invited this year seafood executives and policy makers from a number of African coastal nations.

The City of Bergen will participate actively in the NASF event. Bergen Mayor Trude Drevland and City business director Gunnar Bakke have been a driving force to move NASF to Bergen.

The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) held a bilateral meeting on seafood exports from Ireland to China on 15 Oct. with key representatives from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), the organisation that carries out the import controls in China. The meeting took place at the SFPA's head office in the National Seafood Centre in Clonakilty, Co Cork.

In general terms, the meeting emphasised the assurances provided by official controls carried by the SFPA. Key topics discussed involved: risk assessments; health certification; certificate of origin, amongst others. A review of the Memorandum of Understanding then took place at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Representatives from AQSIQ and the SFPA then proceeded to the National Seafood Centre at Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) which was followed by visits to several seafood processing establishments.

Source: Afloat

Myanmar's fisheries sector is not yet ready to take advantage of the proposed easing of sanctions by the European Union and United States, exporters said last week.

“Even though it looks like sanctions will be eased, it is just an announcement made at high levels of the government – and the practical measures needed to make it reality have not been taken,” said U Han Tun, general co-secretary of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation, during a weekly meeting on 9 October.

Source: Soe Sandar Oo and Myat Nyein Aye / The Myanmar Times

Deep-water fishing in Benham Rise on the eastern seaboard of Luzon is set to start next month, but the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said Monday 15 Oct. it has to put up new structures for fishermen to fish in rough seas.

“Fishermen need the support they can get from the government,” BFAR Director Asis Perez told reporters Monday 15 Oct. at the opening of the 49th Fish Conservation Week at the bureau’s headquarters in Quezon City.

“Fishing in rough waters is not easy, so we intend to put up payaos. The government will invest, the fishermen will harvest,” said Asis.

Source: GMA Network

The lobster season has opened in Districts 35 and that made for a busy morning at the wharf in Alma, N.B.

"The adrenaline is flowing, everybody on the wharf is happy and ready to get back at it," said Graham Copp. "Two and a half months off for us now, so we're ready to go back fishing for sure."

"We still don't know what's going to happen with the price," said Copp. "They're talking about four dollars a pound but we're hoping for more than that. We're hoping for a big season for sure."

Source: CBC News

An independent marine biologist says Nova Scotia’s coastline is slated to become a dump site for the aquaculture industry.

Alexandra Morton, who has spent 20 years studying the impact of fish farming on wild marine species in British Columbia, is warning that Nova Scotia’s fisheries are in peril.

“There is a tremendous conflict between fish farms and the lobster industry here,” Morton said in an interview Sunday 14 Oct. from Freeport, a fishing village at the end of Digby Neck on Long Island.

“Fishermen here feel like aquaculture is destroying their way of life.”

Source: Brett Bundale / The Chronicle Herald

Iceland is among seven countries that will present national seafood marketing programmes on a workshop which is organised by Marie Christine Monfort and Pascale Baelde (Sea-matters). As stated on the workshop's website, this workshop will allow major supplier countries to the French market to present the actions they have undertaken on the subject and explain how they articulate seafood national identity and sustainability in their policies and communication.

Gudny Karadottir, Marketing Director of Iceland Responsible Fisheries will present how the Icelandic fisheries and seafood industry is promoting the origin of products from Iceland and responsible fisheries management through the Iceland Responsible Fisheries programme.

The workshop is addressed to professional buyers (retail chains, processors, collective catering) and their suppliers (producers and PO, wholesalers, distributors). Registration and further information is available on SeaMatters' website.

Commercial fishermen heading out 15 Oct. and beyond for the 2012-13 Bristol Bay red king crab harvest will have a quota of 7.85 million pounds, up slightly over the 2011-2012 quota of 7.834 million pounds.

The Bering Sea snow crab quota, however, is down from 88.894 million pounds a year ago, to 66.35 million pounds for the upcoming season.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the current season's quota for red king crab on 3 Oct., with 7,067,700 pounds of individual fishing quota and 785,300 pounds for community development quota.

Source: Cordoba Times

Godaco Seafood Joint Stock Company (Godaco) is one of the first companies in the Ben Tre province to participate in the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification program. Tien Giang-based firm is applying ASC standards on its pangasius farming of 10 hectares in Thanh Long, Ben Tre province.

According to Nguyen Van Dao, General Director of Godaco, ASC auditors have taken final assessments of the fish farm to grant the company official certification for responsible production.

Godaco is one of the largest-scale fish processors in Ben Tre province. In recent years, the company has focused on developing farming area of raw fish, mainly in Ben Tre and Tien Giang province. It now farms fish on total area of over 120 hectares.

Source: VASEP