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
May 21, 2025

China has proposed a massive overhaul to its nationwide fisheries law, which, if passed, would align the nation’s fishing industry more with the goals outlined in the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA).

The PSMA aims to deter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices across the globe; China ratified the agreement in April.

According to Liu Xinzhong, head of the fisheries bureau at the Chinese agriculture ministry,

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Published on
May 20, 2025

European and United Kingdom representatives met in London on 19 May to finalize a wide-ranging bilateral agreement covering such topics as security and defense, trade, and access to lucrative fishing grounds.

Prior to this post-Brexit “reset” agreement, Irish Fish Producers Organization (IFPO) CEO Aodh O’Donnell said his members wanted “a rebalancing of the disproportionate quota transfers that took place in 2020, where

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Published on
May 19, 2025

High raw material prices are forcing some Chinese squid processors to use as many parts of the cephalopod as possible in order to extract value and turn a profit.

Trevor Wang, sales manager at Shandong Xinrihai Food Co. told SeafoodSource at the 2025 Seafood Expo Global, which took place 6 to 8 May in Barcelona, Spain, that his company has recently developed an increasingly diverse range of products from cheaper parts of squid, such as the

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Published on
May 16, 2025

Three years after launching its first deep-sea aquaculture vessel, Chinese state-owned fish-farming firm Guoxin Development Group has launched an updated 150,000-metric-ton (MT) version.

The CNY 450 million (USD 63 million, EUR 54 million) Guoxin 1 2.1 vessel features upgrades to the 100,000 MT Guoxin 1 model including six more aquaculture compartments, a 16,000-cubic-meter increase to its water-holding capacity, and a solar photovoltaic system

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Published on
May 15, 2025

After U.S. President Donald Trump instituted new rounds of tariffs on Chinese goods starting early this year, Chinese customs authorities in the east coast city of Taizhou – a key seafood export hub – have pivoted to help local seafood firms increase their exports to Southeast Asia, the E.U., and the Middle East.

Though the trade war between the U.S. and China has temporarily cooled off, customs authorities made the move in order to

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Published on
May 13, 2025

Ugandan Nile perch is suffering a global identity crisis, according to Sudheendra Kashyap, the head of sales for the Americas at Uganda-based seafood-processing and -exporting firm Lake Bounty Group. 

Kashyap told SeafoodSource at the 2025 Seafood Expo Global, which took place 6 to 8 May in Barcelona, Spain, that many overseas buyers are misnaming or misrepresenting the fish as barramundi or sea bass, which are often considered more premium

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Published on
May 9, 2025

A leading Chinese tuna processor sees scope for more sales in Europe for its products as prices begin to improve.

Pingtai Rong Ocean Fishery Co. is seeking customers in Europe for its tuna cuts, Eric Wang, assistant manager of the company’s business development department, told SeafoodSource during the 2025 Seafood Expo Global – which ran from 6 to 8 May in Barcelona, Spain.

“The prices we’ve been getting for tuna have

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Published on
May 2, 2025

A Chinese government-funded research program is backing what it has termed a “key special project” to test the effectiveness of new lighting used to draw squid to the country’s trawlers.

Titled “Intelligent Equipment and Technology for High-Quality Fishing in Ocean Light-Attracted Fisheries,” the research program is being delivered by staff at Shanghai Ocean University under China’s National Key R&D

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Published on
May 1, 2025
Brazil and China have formally signed a protocol allowing for the export of wild-caught Brazilian fish to Chinese buyers as the country continues to seek alternative suppliers. The announcement by the General Administration of China Customs follows nearly a decade of lobbying by Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply (MAPA). The move also comes as China begins its annual fishing moratorium on its own waters, which ties up… Read More