Chris Chase

East Coast Shellfish Association Executive Director Robert Rheault said he spent his recent holiday season reacting to a U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) outbreak alert he calls “ridiculous.” On 23 December, the CDC put out an alert that said 64 cases of salmonella had been linked to raw oysters across 22 states, with 20 hospitalizations and zero deaths. Rheault told SeafoodSource that the alert was baseless, didn’t meet the… Read More

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the country has reached an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping that will cut Chinese tariffs on key seafood items like lobster and crab. Canada has faced an additional 25 percent tariff in China on a range of seafood products including halibut, crabs, lobster, clams, and shrimp since 20 March 2025. The tariffs were made in response to a 100 percent Canadian tariff on Chinese electric… Read More

Tytlandsvik Aqua, which is owned by Grieg Seafood Rogaland, Bremnes Seashore, and Vest Havbruk in three equal parts, has acquired Fister Smolt. Fister Smolt is a main supplier of live fish to Tytlandsvik Aqua, which operates a post-smolt facility in Norway. Grieg said the two companies have been collaborating for some time, and the integration of Fister Smolt into Tytlandsvik will not bring any changes to that relationship. “This acquisition… Read More

Mark Foods has become the 12th member of precompetitive collaborative group Sea Pact, the organization said in a press release. Sea Pact was formed in 2013 to promote sector-based sustainability improvements across its membership and drive change. The group is supported by NGO advisors FishWise, Ocean Outcomes, and the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. “Mark Foods joining Sea Pact builds on the strong collaboration already underway across… Read More

Frøya, Norway-headquartered SalMar has agreed to acquire the remaining 49 percent of the shares in fellow Norwegian salmon farming company Oylaks. SalMar announced in an update to the Oslo Børs that the acquisition will give it 100 percent of the company. Oylaks currently operates one license to produce Atlantic salmon.  The agreed-upon purchase price is the issuance of 209,402 new shares in SalMar at a subscription price of NOK 655.20 (USD… Read More

The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries said it has started to work on changes to its technical regulations to create a different approach for how it handles escapes from cod aquaculture operations.  Cod farms have repeatedly reported escapes since the industry restarted following its decline in the late 2000s. Escape sizes vary, from small tears to mass escapes of thousands of cod, with the directorate recently reporting an escape of 14,000… Read More

The Fish, Food, and Allied Workers Union (FFAW), which represents snow crab harvesters in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, said it is meeting with government officials as it pushes back against a rebate amount it said was too low.  The FFAW called for action in the wake of auditing firm Deloitte determining a final rebate amount of CAD 0.28 (USD 0.20, EUR 0.17) per pound of snow crab. The rebate was based on a pricing… Read More

The U.S. Court of International Trade has upheld countervailing duties on Vietnamese shrimp producer and exporter Soc Trang Seafood Joint Stock Company (Stapimex). The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced in March 2024 that it was considering countervailing duties for Stapimex and most Vietnamese shrimp export companies. Countervailing duties are implemented by the DOC when investigations determine that foreign governments are subsidizing… Read More

Land-based salmon-farming company Salmon Evolution said Dongwon Industries is planning to take over the two companies’ existing joint venture agreement, changing it into a technical advisory agreement. “This positions Dongwon Industries to advance the project on its own terms, with full responsibility for project financing,” Salmon Evolution said in an update posted to the Oslo Børs. Dongwon announced its plans to build a… Read More

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new 25 percent tariff on any country “doing business” with Iran, effective immediately, on 12 January. In a post on Trump’s social media website Truth Social, he wrote any country that is “doing business” with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a 25 percent tariff on “any and all business being done with the United States of America.” “This Order is final and conclusive,” Trump wrote.… Read More