Former SalMar chief executive Trond Williksen has been appointed as the new CEO of UK-based aquaculture genetics, health and advanced nutrition company Benchmark Holdings.

He will begin his new role on June 1, taking over from executive chairman Peter George, who will revert to his former position as non-executive chairman.

Williksen is highly experienced in the international aquaculture and seafood industries, having held senior executive positions in the sector for over 20 years.

Most recently he was CEO of SalMar, co-owner of Scottish Sea Farms and one of the world's largest producers of farmed salmon.

Prior to that role he was chief executive of aquaculture technology and service provider AKVA group ASA for six years. He previously held a number of senior roles in Aker ASA’s Seafoods, Ocean Harvest and BioMarine divisions.

Source: fishfarmingexpert | Read the full article here

The impact of the coronavirus is reshuffling the old order of the seafood industry in China, according to executives at numerous seafood firms interviewed by SeafoodSource.

Steven Li, CEO of Zhejiang-based Blue Snow Food Co. Ltd., which specializes in processing, trading, cold storage, and logistics, supplying seafood to around 8,000 supermarket outlets.

“The coronavirus did affect the transportation and shipment and delayed some shipments, but we are still receiving containers on schedule,” Li said. “Cold-chain logistics are still not sufficient in China. There are no big players in this area, and the service level is low and not in a good order.”

Yushu Huang, the chairman of Shanghai-headquartered Huamer Foods Ltd., which claims to be China’s “leading aquatic fresh brand operator” and counts “French toothfish” as its star product, said he wants to improve his company’s procurement management to ensure enough stocks That one of many challenges he said his company faced as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

Author: Mark Godfrey / SeafoodSource | Read the full article here

ICELAND’S fish  famers enjoyed one of their best export periods during the month of February, the latest statistics show.

The value of overseas sales, mainly salmon, totalled 2,927 million Icelandic kroner (ISK) – or around £16.6-million sterling. This is the second highest month since figures for farmed fish exports were issued. It also represents a 50 per cent increase in value and a 45 per cent increase in volume.
While the figures show that Iceland’s aquaculture industry is  continuing to gather pace, they should be treated with caution as the Coronavirus crisis had still not fully impacted on the industry when they were compiled. SFS, the Icelandic Fisheries Federation, says the picture should become clearer when the March figures become available later this month.
A number of fish farms in Iceland were badly damaged by severe storms during February which will also have had an adverse effect on production.

Author:Vince McDonagh  / Fish Farmer | Read the full article here

Haute cuisine has come to the rescue of the fishing sector, which is witnessing between powerless and astonished and completely baffled a collapse in demand and prices. Just as the prices in the fish markets continue on a roller coaster, with rises, plains and descents, the clientele of the fishmongers has not just settled, not even in the abnormal influx caused by the confinement. Although it seems that the market tends to regulate itself and the setback is, but not so much as the supply decreases due to the mooring of boats and the reduction of imports, the fishing sector has found influencers in the chefs for its product.

The chefs advise "to consume peixe these days that it is essential to cook our food". In addition to remembering all the properties that fish has and its contribution to strengthening the immune system, stove experts recall its low calorie content, which at times like today, when confinement leads to sedentary lifestyle and boredom encourages walks to the fridge, is of utmost interest.

Author: E. Abuin S. Serantes / La Voz de Galicia | Read the article here

During the past week, Blumar received confirmation of five positive cases of covid-19, three in the maintenance area and two in the process line of the Talcahuano plant.

Salmones Blumar SA, which is the salmon-farming subsidiary of the aquaculture-fishing company Blumar, provided new information on the situation experienced by covid-19 (coronavirus), especially in its process plant located in the commune of Talcahuano, Biobío region .

In effect, assured the general manager of the company, Gerardo Balbontín, in a fact delivered to the Commission for the Financial Market (CMF), “the subsidiary has developed and implemented numerous contingency measures, among which the hiring of nurses stands out. , paramedics and risk preventionists to support the implementation of protocols for the emergency; and the authorization of the free telephone line 800 800 708, which is open 24 hours a day, to answer questions to collaborators and whose answers are issued by medical personnel ”.

In turn, added the executive, the sanitation procedures of the infrastructure have been extreme, and work has been done in educating the personnel in sanitary measures to prevent contagion, in addition to the delivery of protection and sanitation supplies, temperature measurement upon entry and monitoring of health personnel, implementation of transfers of employees in private buses, distancing in the workplace, casino, locker room and food handling.

Source: aqua.cl | Read the article here

The Spanish longline fleet has come together to carry out a joint diagnosis of the impact that the COVID19 crisis is going to have on its activity and, at the same time, establish the mechanisms it would need to face the coming uncertainty.

Prepared by Opromar, Orpagu, OPP Lugo, OPPC3 (Arvi) and the trading companies grouped in Anecteam, the report focuses on the economic difficulties posed by the closure of the Italian market for this segment of the fleet, the destination of much of its export, as well as the blocking of the Horeca channel. The document has been sent to both the General Secretariat of Fisheries and the Consellería do Mar.

One of the key data provided by the fleet is the volume of merchandise it has unplaced. At the moment, the fleet is pending to commercialize a total of 11 687 tons of the three main species: blue shark (5277 tons); sword (6049 tons) and shortfin mako (360 tons), whose price is being affected by the market situation.

In the first two months of the year, the value of the blue shark has fallen 20%; and 7% in the case of sword. The decrease of these two species in the month of March was much more pronounced, reaching 38 in the case of blue shark and 19% in the sword. As a result, in the first quarter of the year, the average price of blue shark fell 29%, 13% in the case of sword.

Source: Fishing Industries | Read the article here

The processing company Milarex has this weekend diagnosed two employees in Slupsk located factory with coronavirus. Due to this and the current world pandemic, the company is reducing its processing level of salmon.

“We are still receiving fish, but we are reducing our orders to minimize the risk that we have raw materials that we are unable to process. We are doing more of our buying “just in time,” says Thomas Farstad, CEO at Milarex to SalmonBusiness.

Milarex has earlier on stated to SalmonBusiness, that they pursue to annually process 35,000 tonnes. Thomas Farstad does not want to comment on the amount the company is processing at the moment.

Thomas Farstad also states that they have until now been able to fulfil their orders, but will not be able to from now on.

Thomas Farstad does not want to comment on if the company has gotten fewer orders due to the pandemic. He informs that they have toned down their production capacity since European countries started closing borders and schools a few weeks back.

Author: Katrina Poulsen /SalmonBusiness | Read the full article here

The government of Singapore is looking into the possibility of farming more fish in the country’s southern waters as it aims to become more self-sufficient in food production.

The government set out a strategy to become less reliant on food imports last year – an initiative that has been given further impetus by the disruptions to global supply chains that are currently being caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Currently, 108 of the republic’s 110 offshore fish farms are located in the Johor straight, to the north of the country, and these produced around 4,700 tonnes of fish - amounting to 10 per cent of country’s total consumption – in 2019.

However, as parts of this area are thought to be approaching their carrying capacity, the government is now looking elsewhere.

The Straights Times reports that a spokesman for the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said last week that: "SFA has conducted a broad scan of the southern waters for potential aquaculture sites and is targeting for sustainable farming systems to be adopted at those sites. Various spatial, production and environmental constraints were taken into consideration to determine potential sites."

Source: The Fish Site | Read the full article here

Lerøy harvested 39,400 tonnes of salmon and trout in the first quarter of 2020, an increase of 7,100 tonnes (22%) of the same period last year.

The fish farming and fishing company said production for the most northerly of its three Norwegian regions, Lerøy Aurora, was impacted by more winter wounds than normal, which had a negative impact on price achievement.

Production in other regions met expectations, and the group is maintaining to its guidance for harvest volume of between 183,000 and 188,000 tonnes for 2020.

The company said its value chain for seafood is managing the challenging situation caused by the Covid-19 epidemic in a satisfactory manner.

Source: fishfarmingexpert | Read the full article here

A new report from Lux Research explores the future of alternative aquafeed ingredients, evaluating insect protein, single-cell protein, and algae protein as potential replacement options in fishmeal.

The FAO estimated in 2018 that aquaculture production would reach 201 million metric tons (MT) by 2030, in line with a 10 percent annual increase in demand for fish protein. However, according to IFFO, global annual fishmeal production from marine organisms – including fish, krill, shellfish, and algae – has remained at 5 million MT in recent years, with one third of the world’s fishmeal production coming courtesy of by-products from wild-capture fisheries and aquaculture.

That number will have to significantly increase in order for the aquaculture sector to remedy future supply and demand gaps, Lux Research posited. The firm predicted in its latest report – which identified 20 producers of algae, 28 insect feed companies, and 16 producers of single-cell protein – that over the next 30 years, 15 million MT of new protein will be needed for aquaculture to meet the shortfall between supply and demand.

Author:Nicki Holmyard / SeafoodSource | Read the full article here