Fish industry news

There are six pelagic vessels now searching for pearlside in the Grindavik Deeps and according to Ingunn AK's skipper Gudlaugur Jonsson, there isn't much happening there. Ingunn began fishing last Saturday and catches have been from 100 to 200 tonnes per day, reports www.megafishnet.com

The Scottish Government's First Minister, Alex Salmond, recently declared that the Scottish fish farming industry may need to double its production of salmon to satisfy Chinese demand, following the signing of a new trade deal. S&TA believes this could spell further disaster for Scotland's iconic and endangered West Highland wild salmon and sea trout stocks, and it is surely premature and irresponsible of the First Minister to signal such an enormous increase in farmed salmon production before the Scottish Government and fish farming industry have addressed their dire existing problems caused by fish farming, reports www.megafishnet.com

Morpol ASA has completed the issuance of a NOK 500 million unsecured bond issue in the Norwegian bond market, reports www.megafishnet.com

January is a dead season. Fish caught in 2010 was sold in December, and in January was just delivered to buyers. At the same time, there was strong influence of long holidays in Russia combined with preparations to lunar New Year in China, reports www.megafishnet.com.

The Seafood Excellence Awards (formerly the New Product Awards) at the International Boston Seafood Show & Seafood Processing America will recognize the product leaders in the North American seafood market. Join us on Sunday, March 14th as a panel of seafood buyers and experts from the retail and foodservice industries select and present the 2010 Seafood Excellence Awards for "Best New Retail Product" and "Best New Foodservice Product.", reports www.megafishnet.com

High precision portioning, the most versatile slicer on the market, and an interactive look at Marel's groundbreaking Innova software suite will be among the highlights featured at Booth # 865, at this year's International Boston Seafood Show, reports www.megafishnet.com

What do international frozen seafood brand leader Birds Eye Iglo (BEI) and the global trade organisation for fishmeal manufacturers have in common?
The answer is that both wish to be part of a fully verified responsible aquaculture value chain, with the final purpose of reassuring consumers, reports www.megafishnet.com

The company is excited to add Taylor Shellfish's unique Shigoku oysters to its oyster selection, reports www.megafishnet.com

Sardines are popular in Brazil. However, the consumption is larger than the national catch and there are periods when fishing comes to a halt, reports www.megafishnet.com

The Isefjord and East Jutland blue shell fishery in Denmark will be assessed against the internationally recognised MSC standard for sustainable fishing. It is joining a larger group of Danish fisheries who have already entered the MSC programme. In August 2009, the Danish fishing industry committed to having all its fisheries certified by the end of 2012, reports www.megafishnet.com

Fish farming is an ancient practice, which has existed for thousands of years. It's also a very efficient way of farming food that is now more relevant than ever in addressing the world's food sustainability challenges into the future, reports www.megafishnet.com

Sealord is puzzling over the results of Greenpeace-funded Spanish lab tests showing that a canned tuna spread sold in New Zealand contains a species protected as a "recreational only" fish in Australia, reports www.megafishnet.com

Problem may involve over 20 million tonnes of fish and other animals annually Fishers need new ways to catch only target fish, reports www.megafishnet.com

In the beginning of January 2011 the general situation on the Russian and US grounds of spawning pollock has so far remained too vague to show any definite trends in the current year, moreover the official start of the trawl fishery in Alaska is scheduled on 20 January 2011. Therefore, the market specialists have commented only on those problems which are associated with the above mentioned fisheries, according to the overview prepared by analysts of www.megafishnet.com based on Japanese, Russian and American sources.

New England fishermen who catch ground fish like cod and flounder are in the midst of a pioneering season marked by hard limits on overfished stocks and a new system of dividing most of the catch among boats based on their locations and past volume of fish, reports www.megafishnet.com

Total catch of Icelandic vessels in December 2010 was 53,369 tonnes compared to 57,958 tonnes in December 2009, reports www.megafishnet.com

A 600 tonne catch that Faxi RE docked with at Vopnafjordur on 11 January 2011 night is now being landed and according to skipper Albert Sveinsson, these fish were caught north of Langanes. Faxi had bad weather for the whole trip and he said that with such difficult seas, conditions were bordering on being too rough to fish, reports www.megafishnet.com

The UK fishing industry has been shown to be open, transparent and future-focused - despite facing challenges such as discards, according to Seafish, the authority on seafood, reports www.megafishnet.com

Product orders from RapidTrade are transferred automatically into Marine Harvest Pieters' ERP system, giving them a complete real time overview of upcoming purchase orders and changes, reports www.megafishnet.com