Saving Seafood

New film aims to counter bias against farmed seafood

February 18, 2020 — Dongo Films, a Brussels, Belgium-based collective of independent documentary filmmakers, are hoping to raise more than EUR 325,000 (USD 355,700) on public fundraising platform Kickstarter to make a film promoting sustainable aquaculture. Their goal is to reach the ambitious target by 22 March, 2020, which will allow filming to start this summer.

The film, AquaPioneers, is the brainchild of filmmakers Marjolijn Prins and Mathias Ruelle, working with production manager Heleen Bolle. They are being advised by Marjolijn’s brother, sustainable aquaculture expert Tom Prins, a dealflow manager with venture capital firm Aqua-Spark, based in the Netherlands.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

The Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative includes the Shrimp Standard in the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Scope of Recognition

February 18, 2020 — The following was released by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative:

The Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) Steering Board is pleased to announce its first recognition of a scope extension. The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) scope of recognition now includes their Shrimp Standard (Version 1.0, March 27, 2014).

ASC applied for this scope extension in early 2019, having already obtained recognition for the scope of their Salmon Standard (version 1.1, April 27, 2017) in August 2018. The Independent Experts and the Benchmark Committee found the ASC Shrimp Standard to be in alignment with all the GSSI Essential Components for Section C (Aquaculture). The Independent Experts and the Benchmark Committee also confirmed the Governance (Section A) and Operational Procedures (Section B) have been appropriately applied to this ASC Shrimp Standard.

Read the full release here

MAINE: State officials get an earful about proposed Belfast fish farm

February 13, 2020 — Dozens implored the Maine Board of Environmental Protection this week to put the brakes on plans for a $500 million land-based salmon farm here.

At a hearing Tuesday night, many who came to the University of Maine’s Hutchinson Center wore red to signify their opposition to Nordic Aquafarms’ project. It was the only chance for the public to address the BEP officials during their three-to-four-day visit to the midcoast city, where they will review environmental permit applications required for the project.

“I beg you to deny Nordic this opportunity to destroy our environment, our home, to line their pockets with gold,” Aimee Moffit of Belfast told state environmental officials.

The Norwegian-owned company is angling to build a flagship facility near the Little River in Belfast, with a goal of producing 33,000 metric tons of Atlantic salmon every year. It would construct 10 buildings — including several grow-out modules that company officials have described as “the largest aquaculture tanks in the world” — on a 54-acre site that’s currently mostly woods and fields.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

High Liner Foods joins Ocean Disclosure Project

February 11, 2020 — The following was released by the Ocean Disclosure Project:

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is pleased to announce that High Liner Foods is now participating in the Ocean Disclosure Project (ODP) and is the first North American company to disclose farmed seafood sourcing information in the ODP’s 2019 annual reporting.

“SFP is excited to see High Liner Foods, one of our longest-standing partners, further seafood transparency and continue to demonstrate responsible sourcing through participation in the Ocean Disclosure Project,” said Sam Grimley, deputy director of the Programs Division at SFP.

SFP started the ODP in 2015 to provide a valuable information resource for responsible investors, seafood consumers, and others interested in sustainable seafood. To date, 23 other companies in Europe, North America, and Australia have participated.

“Partnering with SFP since 2010, High Liner Foods is pleased to participate in the ODP as part of our continued commitment to sustainability, responsibility, and transparency,” said Bill Dimento, vice president for corporate sustainability and government affairs at High Liner Foods. “We are proud to be the first North American company to disclose farmed seafood sourcing information in the ODP’s annual report and of the role High Liner Foods continues to play in driving global improvements in wild fisheries and aquaculture, ultimately leading to sustainable seafood for all to enjoy.”

High Liner Foods’ long-standing commitment to sustainable seafood sourcing has included participated and coordination of several key sustainability projects over the years, including a whitefish fishery improvement project (FIP) in the Barents Sea that resulted in dramatic improvements in stock levels.

High Liner Foods’ full profile can be viewed at: https://www.oceandisclosureproject.org/companies/high-liner

“Wild vs. farmed” debate hurts seafood sales, GAA panel agrees

February 11, 2020 — With both aquaculture standards and fisheries management practices improving steadily, panelists at a roundtable discussion hosted by the Global Aquaculture Alliance said it is time for the seafood industry to call a cease-fire in the “wild versus farmed” debate and launch a joint effort to increase U.S. seafood consumption across the board.

The debate, titled “Come Together: Uniting the Wild and Farmed Seafood Sectors,” focused on how the U.S. seafood industry help land more seafood onto American dinner plates.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Aquaculture UK acquired by Diversified Communications

February 11, 2020 — Diversified Communications has acquired Aquaculture UK, a trade show focused on the aquaculture sector in the United Kingdom.

The biennial expo is slated to take place 19 to 21 May, 2020, at the Macdonald Aviemore Highland Resort in Scotland. In a press release announcing the acquisition, Diversified said it expects more than 3,000 attendees and 200 exhibitors at the next edition of the expo.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Offshore aquaculture firm, formerly known as Kampachi Farms, rebrands as Ocean Era

February 10, 2020 — The Kona, Hawaii, U.S.A.-based offshore aquaculture company formerly known as Kampachi Farms, LLC, is rebranding as Ocean Era, LLC, the firm announced on 10 February.

The move is intended to position the company to better address both opportunities and challenges facing modern aquaculturists and the planet at large, according to Neil Anthony Sims, the firm’s co-founder and CEO.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

China’s aquaculture modernization effort hampered by corruption

February 10, 2020 — A colorful corruption case in China’s seafood region, involving speed boats and cash bribes, has shone a light on the scale of China’s fisheries subsidy regime and how it’s open to abuse by Communist Party officials who administer it.

Wang Ji Shan, former head of the Ocean and Fisheries Bureau in Li Jin County near Dongying on the east coast, has been charged with funneling millions of yuan in licenses and subsidies to the Luxin Ocean Development Co.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New survey shows little consumer preference between farmed and wild seafood

February 4, 2020 — More than half of seafood consumers in key markets don’t have a preference between wild and farmed fish, but they do want products that take a responsible approach to protecting both planet and people, a new survey conducted on behalf of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) found.

Carried out by market researcher GlobeScan, the ASC’s survey questioned more than 7,000 seafood eaters across Germany, France, The Netherlands, China, Japan, Canada, and the United States. It learned that while there were strong variations between countries in terms of seafood consumption and frequency, there was “generally high” support around the world for better protection of the environment and workers when it comes to food production.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Canadian authorities evaluate Cermaq’s planned salmon farms in Nova Scotia

February 3, 2020 — Nova Scotia’s fisheries and aquaculture ministry is taking people’s concerns about Cermaq Canada’s plan to establish operations in the province “very seriously”, CBC reported.

Cermaq Canada is looking at spending CAD 500 million ($378m) to create up to 20 open-pen salmon farms and land-based support facilities in Nova Scotia.

Some people who work and live in communities nestled along coastal areas Cermaq is eyeing for development have been speaking out and protesting against the plans.

However, open-pen fish farming is a huge economic driver for communities, bringing a tremendous amount of tax revenue for the province each year, according to Nova Scotia’s aquaculture minister, Keith Colwell.

“Open pen fish-farms already exist in the province, have for decades, and they will in the future,” Colwell told CBC.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News