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
July 22, 2026
A new report commissioned by the Irish government has suggested Ireland consider paying a regular income supplement payment to fishermen, helping cushion the sector from fluctuating cuts to fishing quotas.
The report was conducted by independent consultant Kieran Mulvey at the request of Ireland Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries, and the Marine Timmy Dooley, and analyzed the state of the Irish seafood industry.… Read More
Published on
July 21, 2026
Chinese seafood-processing firm Pan Fish has opened a USD 50 million (EUR 43.7 million) seafood processing facility near Qingdao, China.
The plant will boast an annual processing capacity of 60,000 metric tons once its first phase is fully operational. In that first phase, the facility will mainly focus on salmon before broadening into the processing of other imported species like king crab and shrimp.
Tony Chang, the chairman of the firm, which… Read More
Published on
July 20, 2026
Clarification: An earlier version of this article contained information that may have suggested the project is underway. Pingtai Rong has clarified this project is an early preliminary concept, and no formal agreements have been made. This article has been updated to reflect the additional information.
Chinese tuna-fishing firm Pingtai Rong Ocean Fishery Co. said it has explored a project that could see it build a fishery industrial park in… Read More
Published on
July 8, 2026
At the beginning of 2026, the E.U. launched a new digital traceability system it labeled CATCH, which requires digital catch certificates, containing such information as vessel identification numbers, the start date of a fishing trip, gear type, and location of the catch, to be attached to all fishery products entering the E.U.
The system aims to limit products with a possible connection to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing… Read More
Published on
July 2, 2026
Due to multiple limiting factors, many Filipino fishers seeking litigious action against exploitative labor agencies recruiting for foreign trawling operations have been forced to drop their cases and return to work in similarly manipulative conditions, according to a labor advocacy group in the Philippines.
Joefel Resol, a regional coordinator at the Western Visayas Migrants Network, which is a coalition of organizations representing overseas… Read More
Published on
June 30, 2026
The African Development Bank (AfDB) recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Shanghai Ocean University, aiming to offer African entrepreneurs across the blue economy access to training, scholarships, short-term professional programs, collaborative research opportunities, and more.
AfDB Vice President Jacques Edjangue said the deal should help modernize how Africa approaches its aquaculture and wild capture operations.
"Shanghai Ocean… Read More
Published on
June 25, 2026
Chinese tourists appear to be traveling to Malaysia to eat a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)-protected fish that is banned in China.
Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), which is a tropical fish typically found among coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region, is listed as endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. As a result of the listing, trade… Read More
Published on
June 24, 2026
Iceland will hold a vote in late August to determine whether it should restart negotiations on attaining E.U. membership.
To persuade Iceland to join the bloc, European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans Costas Kadis told the Financial Times that any deal could include both fisheries and aquaculture exemptions to E.U. rules.
Such exemptions, according to Eirikur Bergmann, a professor of politics at the University of Bifröst in Iceland, could… Read More
Published on
June 18, 2026
China’s newly revised fisheries law, which came into force in early May, is set to not only transform the nation’s wild capture sector through greater efforts to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, but also its aquaculture industry by modernizing production and cracking down on antibiotic overuse, among other changes.
According to Xuefei Shi, an affiliated researcher at Bergen, Norway-based Chr. Michelsen Institute,… Read More
Published on
June 17, 2026
Migrant fishers and the organizations that represent them are hopeful that reports of a nearly finalized deal between the U.S. and Iran to cease hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz will offer some semblance of relief to the sector.
Chris Williams, the fisheries section coordinator at the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), told SeafoodSource that the war on Iran has had “major impacts for seafarers but also fishers as a… Read More
