Mark Godfrey is an Irish journalist covering the agriculture and fisheries sectors in Asia, with a focus on China. Proficient in Mandarin, he has frequently traveled across China's fisheries and aquaculture regions and learned the inner workings of China's corporate world during a nearly three-year stint at the Financial Times' “China Confidential” publication. He has also reported widely across Southeast Asia and the former Soviet Union. He has educational certificates in agriculture and food science, as well as Mandarin.
Author Archive
A project co-funded by the European Union is aiming to significantly expand Ireland’s network of marine protected areas (MPAs) as part of the United Nations’ target of protecting 30 percent of the world’s lands and oceans by 2030.
With E.U. backing, the EUR 25 million (USD 27.2 million) MPA Life project is being carried out by a consortium of Irish universities and state agencies and will “examine and develop area-based
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The Chinese government recently intervened in the sale of a Hong Kong-based port operator’s assets to a U.S. investor – a move that has delayed the deal and underlined the importance the nation places on maintaining maritime assets, especially if they serve as important bases for its distant-water fleet.
Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison sought to sell its port division to a consortium led by New York-headquartered investment firm
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Europe’s fisheries sector is hoping to use a defense pact soon to be under negotiation between the E.U. and U.K. as leverage to improve upon a post-Brexit trade deal made between the two sides and gain greater access to lucrative fishing grounds.
The two sides will meet at a summit on 19 May in London, U.K., to discuss defense and economic cooperation amid global uncertainty. Some E.U. coastal states said they hope the summit will
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Chinese tilapia producers, processors, and exporters are sounding the alarm after U.S. buyers have asked to hold their shipments in the wake of tariffs initiated by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“[U.S. buyers] do not want to pass along the tariff increases to their customers. They are looking for new suppliers for tilapia outside of China,” a tilapia processor in Southern China who requested to remain
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A group representing Irish farmers is asking the Irish government to extend aquaculture farming licenses from 10 to 20 years in duration as part of an effort to drive output and bring new producers into the sector, which has recently struggled to grow.
Finian O’Sullivan, who is the aquaculture chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association and is also a mussel farmer, told SeafoodSource that the nation’s aquaculture output was
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Considering the U.S.’s launch of a global trade war and U.S. President Donald Trump’s disdain for international collaboration, experts are warning that the U.S. may soon leave the World Trade Organization (WTO), a move that could render trade rules unenforceable among developing economies and throw global trade further into chaos.
“We should not preclude a prospect where the U.S. will leave the WTO in the coming 18
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High mortality rates, mainly due to low-quality seed, are driving up prices for Malaysian shrimp, according to Benjamin Saw, the director of Malaysian shrimp-farming firm Arus Nagamas.
“Shrimp prices in Malaysia are now at the highest they have ever been,” Saw told SeafoodSource. “There is a big shortage of tiger prawns in Malaysia now driving prices up.”
Saw told SeafoodSource that farmgate prices are averaging MYR 32
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China-based seafood traders and processors said they are frustrated with recent escalations in a trade war between the U.S. and China, which saw U.S. President Donald Trump raise the tariff on Chinese imports to 125 percent hours after China boosted the duty on American goods to 84 percent.
Beiyang Jiamei Seafood Co CEO Peng Song, which operates the Seamix Seafood brand, said his company is “experiencing a hard time” due to tariffs.
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China’s recent ratification of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing – also known simply as the Port State Measures Agreement – is a “concrete measure” that shows China’s authentic resolve in fighting illegal fishing, according to the China Aquatic Product Processing and Marketing
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