News

Norway exported 2.7 million tonnes of seafood worth NOK 105.7 billion (~EUR 10.2 billion) in 2020. This is the second-highest value ever and is the equivalent to 37 million meals every day throughout the year or 25,000 meals per minute. The total volume of seafood exports increased by 2 per cent in 2020, while the value was reduced by 1 per cent, or NOK 1.5 billion, compared with the record year of 2019. Seafood exports for the second year in a row exceeded the ‘magical’ NOK 100 billion mark and that this was achieved during the corona pandemic in 2020 was fantastic, said Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, Minister of Fisheries and Seafood.

Greenland concluded negotiations with the EU for a new Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) that will strengthen cooperation between the two partners for the next four years with the possibility of a two-year extension. The agreement is an important milestone in the long-standing bilateral cooperation between the two in fisheries and renews the commitment to promoting the sustainable use of marine resources. Financially, this is the third most important agreement in place for the EU and will allow the EU fleet (12 large-scale trawlers) to continue fishing in Greenland waters for at least the next 4 years while continuing to contribute to the development of the fisheries sector in Greenland.

The latest Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet has been released showing a profitable fishing fleet in 2020, despite the effects of COVID-19. In 2008, the EU fishing fleet was barely breaking even and ten years later it registered a net profit of EUR 800 million. This significant progress was the result of higher average fish prices, lower fuel costs, and improved stocks of important species. This trend continued into 2019. The COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 interrupted the trend with estimates suggesting that the economic performance of the EU fleets decreased by 17% in landed value, 19% in employment and 29% in net profits compared to 2019.   Despite the impact of COVID-19, projections indicate that the EU fleet is resilient and would end 2020 with a reasonable level of profitability as a result of the efforts made by the sector in the previous years. This includes fishing to the maximum sustainability yield combined with low fuel prices.

With the ongoing development of the aqua- and mariculture in Russia,Seafood Expo Russia will host a new specialized Aquaculture section that will unite fish farmers, feed,additives, and equipments suppliers, and other stakeholders. “We always wanted aquaculture to become a separate sector and now we have such opportunity. This industry always needed its own platform to keep the dialog going. Our main aim is to help aquaculture companies to find new partners and clients. That’s why we want to gather all the existing parts of production and supply chain in one place.” said Altana Esinova, head of the new sector.

Three Danish companies Launis, Nordic Seaweed Feed and Mosegaarden have worked closely with the Danish Technological Institute and Aarhus University School of Engineering to demonstrate a profitable bio-processing method for the sustainable utilization of shrimp shells. The project has demonstrated the profitability of bio-processing shrimp shells with subsequent value addition to create new sustainable pet food products. Historically, residues such as shells and irregular shrimp meat have had limited value, and the majority of residues is not utilised today. Shrimp shells have a high content of protein with a favourable amino acid composition, good digestibility, low ash content, chitin, lime, and a favourable content of omega 3 fatty acids, all of which can be utilised in pet food. To exploit these valuable ingredients, Nordic Seaweed Feed has added shrimp shells to their fermented seaweed-based "Pet Food" products.

When Spanish fisherman and sportsman Miquel Ferrés from Catalonia got introduced to the sports trend ’plogging,’ he decided to make it smarter. Plogging is a combination of jogging and picking up litter in Sweden, where it was founded around 2016, and from where it has spread to other countries following increasing public concern about the environment and plastic pollution. To make plogging more popular, Miquel Ferrés and his two sisters decided to create a mobile phone application, Twinapp. The app enables runners, hikers, cyclists, and eco-swimmers to create com- munities of sports lovers who clean up the environment while they are exercising.

FAO and the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry organised the first serial webinars as part of the Capacity Development for Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture Management in Central Asia (FISHCap) project. The web-based seminars will be organised on a monthly basis, and cover Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The series of webinars aims to provide a brief update of the state of fisheries and aquaculture in the countries and will offer a forum for discussions and networking by stakeholders.

The virtual state of fishery and aquaculture industry briefings is a series of web stakeholder briefings and discussions organized under the project “Capacity Development for Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture Management in Central Asia” (Phase I - aquaculture and food safety). The project is being coordinated by FISHCap in partnership with the beneficiaries of the project (Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan) and target countries that are still not the beneficiaries of the project (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan Tajikistan, Turkmenistan).  The virtual seminars will be organized for each of the seven countries on a monthly basis, and in alphabetical order according to the English name of each country.

Spanish retailer EROSKI, which operates in the regions of Galicia, Basque Country, Navarre, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands,…