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
December 9, 2025
A World Trade Organization (WTO) deal struck in 2022 aimed at ending harmful fisheries subsidies around the world recently entered into force, and a particular clause in the deal may significantly impact the bottom line of China’s distant-water fishing fleet.
The deal, which officially entered into force in September after two-thirds of WTO member nations ratified it, bans subsidies linked to IUU fishing, overfished stocks, and fishing on the… Read More
Published on
December 5, 2025
Aquafeed experts are warning climate change and fishery management restrictions could affect wild catch of forage fish and lead to a 70 percent decline in the output of certain high-value farmed species if the production of alternative feed ingredients is not scaled up.
The warnings have come in a new study titled “Unstable Supply and Future Shortages Of Wild Forage Fish Heighten Risks to Global Fed Aquaculture Production,” which suggests… Read More
Published on
December 3, 2025
The Irish government is progressing on plans announced earlier this year to establish marine protected areas (MPAs) via changes to existing marine planning legislation.
Ireland, which has long been criticized for lagging behind the vast majority of E.U. member nations in designating portions of its waters as MPAs, is planning to amend its Maritime Area Planning Act of 2021 to establish such protections, rather than introduce standalone… Read More
Published on
December 2, 2025
Chinese fishing company Shanghai Kaichuang Marine International has largely expanded its krill catch in 2025 and, therefore, saw its profits soar over the first three quarters of the year.
During the nine-month period, the firm’s krill catch rose 198 percent year over year, amounting to 55,377 metric tons (MT). Simultaneously, the company’s tuna catch rose 16 percent and it experienced a 145 percent spike in government subsidies, all of… Read More
Published on
November 26, 2025
A World Trade Organization (WTO) deal struck in 2022 aimed at ending harmful fisheries subsidies around the world recently entered into force, requiring nations that have ratified the deal to meet several new reporting requirements.
Sven Biermann, the executive director of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), said his organization now has a great opportunity to become governments’ preferred mechanism through which they meet the… Read More
Published on
November 20, 2025
The family of a deceased Chinese distant-water fisherman has been awarded CNY 200,000 (USD 28,051, EUR 24,025) by a maritime court in Ningbo, more than two years after his death by suicide aboard a tuna purse-seine vessel in the Pacific Ocean.
The fisherman, surnamed Wang, reportedly suffered from long periods of sea sickness before taking his life in May 2023, when his vessel was near the Cook Islands, which is more than 6,500 miles away from… Read More
Published on
November 19, 2025
Ireland’s fishing industry is calling for an overhaul of the country’s Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA), claiming the independent statutory body carries out excessive and burdensome investigations into the sector.
The recent bout of backlash comes after a case SFPA brought against an export firm in the country was dismissed out of court due to a lack of evidence.
Killybegs, Ireland-based export firm Sean Ward (Fish Exports) was… Read More
Published on
November 18, 2025
Recent reports have warned that shortages of fishmeal are projected to arise as early as 2028.
Therefore, stakeholders in the global aquaculture and feed sectors are urging markets like the E.U. to remove regulatory barriers for alternative feed options and take an approach akin to markets in Asia, where products like insect feed are growing exponentially.
Leo Wein, the CEO of Singapore-based biotechnology firm Protenga, which uses black soldier… Read More
Published on
November 13, 2025
Chinese shrimp-farming firm Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products has reported another quarter of heavy losses, continuing a long line of disappointing financial periods for the firm.
Over the first three quarters of 2025, the company has reported losses of CNY 800 million (USD 112 million, EUR 97 million) and revenue of CNY 2.58 billion (USD 360 million, EUR 310 million), with the latter metric marking a 14 percent drop year over year.
The latest… Read More
Published on
November 11, 2025
A survey of seafood consumers conducted by the Global Seafood Alliance (GSA), which operates the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification, suggests there is demand for more certified seafood – and a willingness to pay for it – in China.
According to the survey, which went out to over 3,300 consumers across China this summer, 40 percent of Chinese consumers want at least 10 percent of China’s aquaculture output to be certified.… Read More
