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
March 4, 2026
Recent reports from media outlets, including from the New York Times (NYT), have suggested that Chinese fishing vessels are being mobilized for military exercises, proving that “Beijing can rapidly muster large numbers of boats” to potentially “impose control in contested seas.”
However, seafood and maritime researcher Xuefei Shi said there may be another explanation for the maneuvers of boats in question and claimed the reports may have… Read More
Published on
March 3, 2026
Chinese lawmakers have voted to revise the nation’s fisheries law.
The revised law, which will take effect 1 May, overhauls many sections of China’s current legislation.
Among the changes include efforts to crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in order to better align with obligations outlined in the Port State Measures Agreement, which China ratified in early 2025.
For instance, articles 55 to 59 of the revised… Read More
Published on
February 25, 2026
Papua New Guinea has announced plans to build 10 more tuna canneries across its archipelago, with the country’s Minister for International Trade and Investment Richard Maru announcing that the factories would be built by foreign investors.
“About 80 percent of the 550,000 metric tons of fish caught in PNG waters is not being processed in the country, and we import approximately USD 36 million [EUR 30.5 million] worth of processed fish. This… Read More
Published on
February 24, 2026
The estimated global death toll of fishers around the world for the last few decades has hovered around 24,000 to 32,000 annually, according to a FISH Safety Foundation report from 2023.
However, that same report stated that those estimates are generally considered to be overly conservative. The report, instead, placed the projected death toll at more than 100,000 fishers per year.
In an attempt to improve fisher safety and drive down the… Read More
Published on
February 19, 2026
Softer prices for key imported seafood commodities like salmon and prawns prompted an uptick in consumption in China in the run up to Chinese New Year, but the longer-term outlook for the market is showing signs of weaker consumer sentiment and a contraction of high-end purchases.
Tony Fan is the representative for China at Australia-based Stehr Group – which sells farmed bluefin tuna to Chinese sushi restaurants. Fan also distributes salmon… Read More
Published on
February 10, 2026
For more than a decade, water management solutions firm Aquatic Harvesting has conducted environmental assessments and provided ecological monitoring, erosion prevention, and water-based project management services aimed at improving Ireland’s rivers, lakes, wetlands, and canals.
While out on the water completing such tasks as removing invasive plant species, Aquatic Harvesting team members began to notice that many Irish riverbeds were… Read More
Published on
February 5, 2026
A fund set up by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to help developing countries adapt to an agreement on curbing harmful fishing subsidies has handed out nearly USD 3 million (EUR 2.54 million) in its first tranche of grants.
The grants aim to help nations meet the stipulations of a deal originally signed by WTO members in 2022 to prohibit global subsidies that support vessels engaging in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing… Read More
Published on
February 3, 2026
Pakistan has signaled that it wants to add more seafood processing capacity in order to reduce its reliance on Chinese factories.
Muhammad Zafar Kundi, chair of the Pakistan Fisheries Exporters Association, told SeafoodSource that the South Asian nation aims to meet the evolving demands of key markets like the E.U. itself, instead of shipping a lot of its raw materials to China where value is added in upgraded processing facilities and then… Read More
Published on
January 28, 2026
A recent study published in Royal Society Open Science has posited that there is a “general reluctance” among consumers to purchase fish raised on a diet of insect-based feed, as they find them “less appetizing.”
The study, conducted by experts from the National University of Singapore, the Queensland University of Technology, and Chungnam National University, claims to be the “first to examine consumer preferences for packaged fish… Read More
Published on
January 23, 2026
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has confirmed that its certification program is set to expire in China in 2027, requiring several companies certified under the standard to pivot within the next year.
The ASC began phasing out operations in China in March 2024 and closed its office in the country around that time.
“ASC has undertaken a strategic business review of internal operations and of current and future operational regions and… Read More
