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.
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In July, China announced plans to eliminate all tariffs on imports of African goods.
Responding to the move, countries like Somalia are drastically trying to improve their infrastructure so that they can properly take advantage of the new policy.
“This policy change holds great potential for Somali seafood exports. However, realizing a significant increase in exports will depend on addressing several critical enablers, particularly in
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China now has nearly double the krill-fishing capacity of Norway, which is the next top krill-fishing nation in the world, according to Tharos, a Chile-based krill-fishing consultancy firm.
According to Tharos data, China’s krill-fishing fleet has grown to 21,707 metric tons (MT) in carrying capacity. By contrast, the scale of Norway’s krill fleet is 11,388 MT, including the 3,000 MT of capacity expected from the Jan Mayen vessel
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Papua New Guinea’s National Fisheries Authority has opened a cold-storage and distribution facility in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.
The facility will serve as a direct distribution point for species caught off Papua New Guinea like crab, lobster, shrimp, and reef fish and marks the latest move deepening ties between the Oceanic nation and China.
“This partnership between the National Fisheries Authority and the Guangzhou
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Norwegian aquaculture firm Norcod is planning to launch a new sashimi product within the Chinese market this fall.
“We are combining our Snow Cod with salmon in a fresh, ready-to-eat Norwegian sashimi format,” Norcod COO Chris Guldberg told SeafoodSource.
Norcod touts its premium Snow Cod as having a firm texture and white, even-looking meat that provides “a clean and delicate flavor,” and the announcement of the fall
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The closure of the Antarctic krill fishing season after the reaching of a catch limit of 620,000 metric tons (MT), is “not the crisis that some might suggest” according to leading krill catching firm Aker QRILL.
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) closed the Antarctic krill fishery for the season after fishing companies triggered the 620,000 MT catch limit designed to prevent
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The Zhangzhou fishing port in the southern Chinese province of Fujian is offering a CNY 40 million (USD 5.6 million, EUR 4.8 million) subsidy through the municipal government that will be put toward purchasing new Antarctic krill-fishing vessels as part of a support package to help expand the local distant-water fleet.
The payments also include a “one-off reward” of CNY 100,000 (USD 14,000, EUR 12,000) per vessel to any fishing
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Ireland has instituted a phased ban on industrial fishing in the nation’s inshore waters that will be fully effective from October 2026 onward.
Starting this October, industrial trawlers 18 meters or more in length will need a permit to fish for sprat in Ireland’s inshore waters and will be subject to a quota limit of 2,000 metric tons. Then, next October, all trawling activity by large fishing vessels will be banned from fishing in
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