World Trade Organization (WTO) talks on ending harmful fishing subsidies resumed this week, and a return to intensive negotiations has been set for September. The timeline, however, creates a tight squeeze to reach the 31 December deadline for a deal.

Santiago Wills, the chairman of the talks, brought the heads of delegations together on 21 July for a plenary session, the first such in-person session in a month. But while there had been hopes recently of a pathway to a deal, there appears to be new friction between Beijing and Washington over China’s claims to developing nation status.

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

Has a spanner been thrown into the works for Cooke’s plans to farm trout on the East Coast?

In the USA, Cooke’s Washington State Clam Bay, Fort Ward, Orchard Rocks and Hope Island net pens leases are being contested by the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC).

In a press release on the 15th of July, the non-profit conservation ecology organisation wrote that it was creating an “unusual competition” to leave the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) with a “precedent choice to make”. Either lease the 130 acres of aquatic lands to them so it can keep Cooke’s remaining salmon farm permits in the state in a trust. Or give them to Cooke for fish farming.

Author: Owen Evans / SalmonBusiness | Read the full article here

Blue Edge, an automation and data-management platform which can integrate data from any devices or software used on a fish farm, has just been launched, helping aquaculture producers make management decisions and assess their key performance indicators (KPIs).

Nearly four years in the making, results from the pilot platform, which has been deployed at a land-based sea bream farm in Portugal, have been encouraging, and its creators are looking forward to bringing more users to the system.

“We’ve been getting excellent reports from the farmer who’s been trialling the system and are now looking at both pond-based and RAS facilities to use the dashboards.

Author: Rob Fletcher / The Fish Site | Read the full article here

THE salmon farming group SalMar has been give the go-ahead to convert eight development permits into fish production licences for its giant revolutionary offshore ‘sea cage’ known as Ocean Farm 1.

The decision by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, follows a comprehensive investigation and full report which is open to examination.

The announcement was welcomed by SalMar, which has a 50 per cent stake in Scottish Sea Farms. The company said:

‘SalMar is proud that in this way we have completed a project that we believe is ground breaking in the work of developing an increasingly sustainable aquaculture industry.

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

The United Kingdom has reported that as of January 1, 2021 it will establish three phases in the control of goods arriving from the European Union, delaying for a few months the complete adoption of controls on all imported products.

All the legislation is published in the “Border Operating Model (BOM)” that will apply from January 1, 2021. Even though the guide is aimed at British companies, the procedures will affect entities that traffic with the UK. The link to the document (in English): https://lnkd.in/e9UZwcC

Sources in the fishing sector highlighted "the limited progress in the negotiation between the United Kingdom and the European Union", after the last of the four rounds held in the first week of June.

Source: EuropaAzul | Read the full article here

The frozen store chain, La Sirena, is committed to franchising for its expansion plan in Spain, with the aim of continuing to grow throughout the national territory in the hands of local entrepreneurs. This modality is not new for the chain that already tried this commercial management formula years ago, a project that was halted when it was acquired in 2015 by the European investment fund OpCapita, based in London, and current owner of the chain. Now the company returns to resume the process from the hand of the consulting firm specialized in this form of management, Tormo Franchises.

The first phase of this expansion project towards the La Sirena franchises will consist of the selection of entrepreneurs with knowledge of business management, mainly in the communities of Madrid, Aragón, Navarra, La Rioja, the Basque Country and Valencia.

Source: Alimarket | Read the full article here

The Basque shipyard Balenciaga, integrated in PYMAR, has obtained financing from Kutxabank and ICO for the construction of a ship for aquaculture for the Norwegian shipowner Samlaks. Both entities assume the operation of 19.2 million euros in equal parts, reports Pymar.

The ship will be dedicated to the transportation and processing of salmon and has been designed for exploitation in aquaculture.

With a maximum length of 49.70 meters, a beam of 13.20 meters and capacity for a crew of twelve people, the ship has hybrid propulsion, to minimize emissions into the atmosphere, and will be prepared to incorporate fuel cells with hydrogen for zero emissions and quiet navigation.

Source: Fishing Industries | Read the full article here

Four new members have been added to the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s standards oversight committee (SOC), the organization announced on 22 July.

Among the inductees are Marks & Spencer Aquaculture Manager Patrick Blow; Simon Bush, professor and chair of the Environmental Policy Group at Wageningen University; Lukas Manomaitis, U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) aquaculture program lead technical consultant-Southeast Asia; and Conservation International Director of Aquaculture Dane Klinger. Made up of 12 seats total, the SOC appointed the new members during its biannual meeting, held virtually on 16 July.

Author: Madelyn Kearns / SeafoodSource | Read the full article here

The leaders of the EU have closed this Tuesday, July 21, a historic agreement with 390,000 million in direct transfers and a final package of 750,000 million in a summit that started on Friday, with a scheduled duration of two days and that lasted up to five .

The large € 750 billion Recovery Fund, "Next Generation EU", aims to mobilize a massive amount of European public resources so that the recovery, after the COVID-19 crisis, is as swift and strong as possible and which focuses on a green, digital recovery and the improvement of human capital, for a competitive, inclusive and sustainable economy.

Source: iPac.acuicultura | Read the full article here

“We are disappointed to see him leave”. Chief Operating Officer Alan Cook has resigned.

In an update from the salmon farmer NZ King Salmon, the company has reported that aquaculture veteran Alan Cook has resigned as Chief Operating Officer.

He joined the company in February 2019.

New Zealand King Salmon CEO and Managing Director Grant Rosewarne said: “On behalf of the Board and the whole New Zealand King Salmon team, I thank Alan for the outstanding contribution he has made to our company. His experience has been valuable in introducing improved farm practices with Single Year Class and upwelling to counter warming sea temperatures in the Sounds. 

Author: Owen Evans / SalmonBusiness | Read the full article here