Saving Seafood

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

US shrimp aquaculture nearing a turning point

January 31, 2020 — Jim Wyban, a prominent shrimp researcher and owner of consultancy Marine Genetics LLC, believes a shrimp aquaculture boom could be on the horizon – if someone can crack the code to turning a profit while competing with foreign imports.

In the 1990s, Wyban led the development of a specific pathogen-free (SPF) shrimp broodstock as the principal investigator of the U.S. Shrimp Consortium at Oceanic Institute, subsequently doubling the U.S. production of shrimp.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Still time to comment on controversial finfish farm in Gulf of Mexico

January 27, 2020 — A proposed finfish farm in federally controlled waters will be in the spotlight during a public hearing in Sarasota on Jan. 28. The farm will be the first of its kind in the Gulf of Mexico and discussions are expected to revolve around environmental concerns.

The hearing is part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s permitting process to determine if discharges from the fish will adversely affect the water.

“America imports over 90% of seafood that we eat,” said Neil Sims, CEO of Kampachi Farms. “If folks are really concerned about environmental issues, then they should be focused on growing seafood locally rather than exporting our ecological footprint.”

Kampachi Farms is the Hawaii-based company proposing the finfish farm dubbed Velella Epsilon. The project is proposed as a pilot program to test the viability of fish farms in the Gulf. A single net pen will raise about 20,000 almaco jack roughly 45 miles southwest of Sarasota. The farm is expected to produce about 88,000 pounds of fish.

Read the full story at the Fort Myers News-Press