Mark Godfrey

Contributing Editor

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

Published on
February 25, 2025

Chinese caviar firm Sichuan Run Zhao Fisheries aims to greatly expand its output in 2025.

Li Run, the chairman of Run Zhao, which also sells products under the English name Frosista, told Sichuan officials recently that his company plans to build a new breeding center in the Leshan region of Sichuan that will produce 5,000 metric tons (MT) of fish intended for caviar production.

“The output of our company reached 63 MT in 2024, which was

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Published on
February 21, 2025

With the U.S. government attempting to pull the plug on aid funneled through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), officials from developing countries such as Somalia are voicing their praise of China and the assistance, such as fishery development aid, the country offers.

Nur Daud Ibrahim, a fisheries officer at the Somalian Ministry of Fisheries and Blue Economy, told SeafoodSource that Chinese aid both financially and in the

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Published on
February 20, 2025
The Irish seafood sector is asking the nation’s government to alter its tax system in order to attract new entrants into the industry. The recently elected Irish government, of which the Fianna Fail party won a majority, announced among its early government promises to “liaise with fishing stakeholders and request that Revenue examine the current tax allowances for the sector and bring forward recommendations on how the taxation system can… Read More
Published on
February 19, 2025
The Chinese city of Guiyang, the capital of the southwest province of Guizhou, has launched a new air cargo service directly linking the metropolis of nearly 6 million people with the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. Operated by Tianjin Air, the service will operate five flights a week with a stop in… Read More
Published on
February 19, 2025

Norway’s salmon exports to China have jumped so far in 2025, but experts predict Norway’s market share will come under increased pressure as the year goes on.

So far in 2025, Norway has exported 6,937 metric tons (MT) of fresh whole salmon to China, a 56 percent increase in volume terms compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Norwegian Seafood Council.

“I suppose the growth driver is both underlying

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Published on
February 18, 2025

China is using its influence in the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to sway conservation decisions made by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), according to a new academic research paper.

Titled “Seizing A Venue-Linking Opportunity: China’s Strategy To Advance Its Sea Cucumber Interests In Global Environmental Governance,” the paper suggests that China is

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Published on
February 14, 2025

The administration of U.S. Donald Trump has set plans in motion to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in a move that some experts are warning will have long-lasting effects on the U.S.’s own seafood sector.

Kevin Fitzsimmons, an aquaculture specialist and an environmental science professor at the University of Arizona, has consulted on USAID aquaculture projects in Myanmar, among other locations, and said that

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Published on
February 10, 2025

Weak consumer demand in European markets made 2024 a challenging year for Irish shellfish exports, but increased sales to China and a boost to the domestic processing sector via E.U. grants have helped soften the blow.

Data published in Irish food promotion agency Bord Bia’s “Export Performance and Prospects Report 2024-2025” shows Irish seafood exports overall rose 9 percent by value in 2024 to EUR 595 million (USD 618

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Published on
February 7, 2025

China has become more receptive to advice and pressure from international NGOs on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing matters, according to Hang Zhou, a professor at Montreal, Quebec, Canada-based University of Laval.

Zhou, who has a postdoctoral background in fisheries research and has collaborated both with wildlife conservation groups and Chinese international diplomacy groups, told SeafoodSource that international NGOs in the

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Published on
February 7, 2025

Jiumaojiu International Holdings reports there has been a sharp slump in customer spending at its leading Chinese seafood restaurant chain, Tai Er. 

Same store average spending at the quick-service fish soup chain fell by 24.6 percent in the final three months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, according to data released by Jiumaojiu to investors. Jiumaojiu International Holdings operates 634 Tai Er locations, the vast majorit of

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