NORWAY has suspended further applications from salmon companies who want to send fish overseas to be processed.

The move by the seafood and fisheries minister, Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, follows a storm of criticism from politicians and smaller independent processing companies after the salmon farming giants Mowi and Lerøy were granted exemptions.

A number of other companies, including Sekkingstad and Ocean Quality, have since submitted similar applications.

The minister said: ‘We are now considering whether the exemption guidelines should be tightened up. In light of this, I have asked the Food Safety Authority to wait to before processing exemption applications.’

According to the current regulations, production fish must be sorted and any faults, wounds or deformities corrected before being exported.

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

Japan wants to restore bluefin tuna stocks to at least 20% of their historic levels by the year 2034.

Blue tuna is a hot commodity. It is often used in sushi and sashimi- a Japanese bite-sized raw fish dish. The sought-after fish is tasty, but it is also expensive. It often sells for about $40 per pound in Japan, but depending on the time of year and the demand, that price can soar even higher, once going up to $3 million for a 612-pound fish. Why is blue tuna so expensive? In part, because it is in danger of going commercially extinct.

As the birthplace of sushi, and lovers of tuna, Japan is trying hard to protect the stocks of blue tuna now available in the sea. Sometimes, however, that proves to be difficult, and the battle is an uphill one between humans, governments, money-hungry hands and nature.

Author: Victoria Simpson / WorldAtlas | Read the full article here

Maine’s baby eel fishing season is entering its first full weekend, two weeks after it was originally slated to begin.

Maine Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher delayed the start of the eel fishing season from March 22 to March 30 because of concerns about coronavirus. The state has since announced practices designed to help the fishermen limit spread of the disease.

The baby eels are called elvers and they’re often worth more than $2,000 per pound. They’re harvested in rivers and streams and sold to Asian aquaculture companies that use them as seed stock. The eels are raised to maturity, and some come back to the U.S. for use in Japanese restaurants.

The season is scheduled to run to June 7.

Source: The Associated Press

Implanting Prince William Sound fish with acoustic tags has opened up a new realm of possibilities for determining how long individual fish remain in an area, the timing and direction of their movements, and connectivity between fish stocks.

Beginning in 2013, the Prince William Sound Science Center, in collaboration with Canada’s Ocean Tracking Network, and the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, installed a series of underwater hydrophones throughout Prince William Sound. When a tagged fish swims within the detection range of the hydrophone, the receiver records the individual identification code, and a time and date stamp for that fish.

Currently there are around 65 acoustic receivers deployed in the Sound. Most of these receivers are located in “curtains” that span the major entrances between the Gulf of Alaska and Prince William Sound.

Author: Arissa Pearson/The Cordova Times | Read full story here

Eighty-four percent of the total commercial tuna catch worldwide came from stocks at “healthy” levels of abundance, according to the latest report from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF).

The organisation's Status of the Stocks report, which was published this week reveals that, in addition, 15 percent of the total tuna catch was from overfished stocks, and 1 percent was from stocks at an intermediate level of abundance.

Ratings for the following species have changed since ISSF’s last report in October:

• The spawning biomass (SSB) ratio for Atlantic Ocean yellowfin has improved from yellow to green.
• The fishing mortality rate ratio for Indian Ocean bigeye has downgraded from green to orange.
• The fishing mortality ratio for Indian Ocean albacore has downgraded from green to orange.

Those tuna stocks currently considered overfished and/or subject to overfishing include the Atlantic Ocean bigeye, Eastern Pacific yellowfin, Indian Ocean yellowfin, Pacific bluefin tuna stocks, Eastern Pacific bigeye, Indian Ocean bigeye and Indian Ocean albacore.

Source: The Fish Site  | Read the full article here

Commercial fishing continues in the Bering Sea during the coronavirus pandemic, though there are precautions in place keeping the fishermen confined to their boats while making deliveries to processing plants.

In the snow crab fishery, 34 boats were still fishing last week out of 59 that started the season, which was 79% complete with 7.2 million pounds still in the water, according to Ethan Nichols, of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Unalaska. The average catch per pot was 142 of the little snow crab, also known as opilio or "opies."

While many businesses and government organizations are closed because of the deadly coronavirus, Fish and Game's office remains open to the public, although Nichols said people are encouraged to take care of business online or via telephone, to limit social contact.

Author: Jim Paulin/The Bristol Bay Times | Read full story here

The Scottish Government has announced £10 million of support to help seafood processors survive the economic pressures caused by the Covid-19 epidemic.

The Scottish Seafood Business Resilience Fund provides a combination of grants and loans to businesses suffering severe hardship following the shutdown of international markets and the food service industry across the UK.

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: “Parts of the seafood sector have been decimated by the collapse of the export and hospitality markets, and are now struggling to survive.

“Our seafood processors are the lifeblood of many rural and coastal communities, supporting thousands of local jobs and producing some of the finest seafood in the world.

“The industry has been very clear that cashflow is the critical issue facing businesses and this new fund seeks to inject capital into businesses to help them meet their ongoing costs, keep the business solvent and keep people on the payroll.

Source: fishfarmingexpert | Read the full article here

The annual increase before Easter does not occur.

- Norwegians do not like monetary benefits to benefit others. That's what it's about now, a fish importer tells iLaks.

- The prices in crowns have not changed, you ask me.

Acts

Every Friday after lunch, iLaks collects the spot prices for salmon. These are fish that will be delivered the following week. Here we contact various links in the value chain, including breeders, exporters and importers. We always have at least five independent fonts, although not all fonts are necessarily printed. We vary which fonts we use and don't use the same fonts every time.

The market is in exceptional condition, especially buyers of fresh salmon.

Author: Aslak Berge / iLaks.no | Read the full article here

Russian salmon farmer joins 100 food producers that will get government support during coronavirus crisis.

In the wake of the coronavirus, Russia has released a list of companies which are being called “backbone organisations”.

Interfax reports that in the face of a collapse in oil prices and coronavirus pandemics the Russian government will monitor and, if necessary, consider providing support.

The list was first created for the 2008 financial crisis with 300 companies when “dozens of large companies were cut off simultaneously from credit resources due to the financial crisis, and the state had to think about saving them”.

This has now been boosted because of COVID-19, with Moscow extending a partial lockdown until May 1.

The current government ordered a special commission to renew it, with 646 organizations in the list. 80 of them are directly related to agriculture and 21 represents the food industry.

Source: SalmonBusiness | Read the full article here

In Q1 2020 the harvest volumes for Bakkafrost's operation in the Faroe Islands and Bakkafrost's subsidiary in Scotland, The Scottish Salmon Company (SSC), were:

• Faroe Islands: 10.7 thousand tonnes
• Farming North    6.3 thousand tonnes
• Farming West     2.8 thousand tonnes
• Farming South    1.6 thousand tonnes
• Scotland: 7.3 thousand tonnes

All harvest volumes are provided in head on gutted (HOG) equivalents.

Feed sales in Q1 2020 were 19.1 thousand tonnes. Havsbrún sourced 64.8 thousand tonnes of raw materials in Q1 2020.

The full Q1 2020 report will be released on 05 May 2020 at 06:00 CET.