Chris Chase

Whole Oceans, the company planning a large salmon recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) in Bucksport, Maine, has officially applied for a building permit with the town. 

The 400-plus page application showcases Whole Ocean’s plans for the 104 acres that the company purchased in May. The project will include 945,000 square feet of construction in its final form, with various phases of construction taking place over the development

In the wake of strong growth, Australian aquaculture firm Tassal announced that it is moving forward with two big capital projects as a part of its long-term investment strategy. 

During its second-quarter earnings report, the company announced that it acquired a piece of property known as Exmoor Station for AUD 25 million (USD 16.9 million, EUR 15.2 million). The company’s CEO, Mark Ryan, said the new area will be used to expand on

NOAA has settled its civil case against the “Codfather” Carlos Rafael and his fishing captains. Rafael pleaded guilty in 2017 to falsifying fish quotas, tax evasion, and conspiracy. 

The terms of the settlement require Rafael to permanently stop all commercial fishing except for scalloping by 31 December, and to cease scalloping by 31 March, 2020. He must also sell all limited access federal fishing permits and vessels he owns

Maine Coast, a lobster processor with facilities in York, Maine and Boston, Massachusetts, has announced that the company selected Seasoft for its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software needs. 

Seasoft, a software suite developed by CAI Software – based in Rhode Island – is a complete ERP solution that has been designed specifically with seafood processors in mind. Seasoft has partnered with a number of seafood businesses,

FisheryProgress, a leading source of information on fishery improvement projects (FIP) has announced a new interim policy on labor abuse focusing on serious human rights abuses: forced labor, child labor, and human trafficking. 

The new policy will have all FIPs featured on the site contain a notification of potential rights abuses if FisheryProgress receives a credible allegation of abuse, according to a release by FishChoice, the NGO that

Whole Oceans announced 8 August that Jacob Bartlett, the CEO of Emergent Holdings – the owner of Whole Oceans – is stepping into a leadership role with the company as it moves into its next phase.

Bartlett has extensive experience in the aquaculture industry, and is taking on a more active role with Whole Oceans as the company nears groundbreaking on its Bucksport, Maine salmon recirculating aquaculture (RAS) system plans. Jason

Clearwater’s report on its second-quarter results indicate that the company experienced relatively flat earnings over the same period in 2018, with slight increases in sales. 

The company reported an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of CAD 30.25 million (USD 22.7 million, EUR 20.3 million) in the 13 weeks ending on 29 June, compared to an adjusted EBITDA of CAD 30.5 million (USD 22.9

A new survey published in Royal Society Open Science has dire news for the survival of the vaquita porpoise – a small porpoise that lives in an area of the Mexican coast in the Gulf of California. 

Using passive acoustic survey devices – which detect the vaquita due to the species’ use of echolocating “clicks” – the report determined that fewer than 19 individual vaquitas remained as of autumn 2018. The

Canada has ratified the “Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter, And Eliminate Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing,” an international agreement intended to combat IUU fishing.

The agreement grants officials more authority in denying entry to ports, in addition to the use of port services, if its found a vessel is carrying illegally harvested fish. It also increases the monitoring in Canadian ports and throughout

SeaChoice’s latest criticism of changes to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s Salmon Standard “pre-emptively undermines” the future progress the changes are intended to make, according to a release from the ASC. 

The SeaChoice criticism was targeted at the ASC’s amendments to the salmon standards, mainly the parasiticide treatment index (PTI). In a media release, SeaChoice claimed the changes allow for