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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A case taken by a Senegalese community coalition to close a fishmeal plant could have implications for the expansion of production in the region, which has seen major expansion by Chinese operators in particular, alongside plants built by European, Russian, and Turkish operators.
Members of the Taxawu Cayar Collective, made up of female fish processors and artisanal fishers – along with community and environmental representatives –
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There’s been a sharp drop in air and sea freight prices to and from China and Europe this year, while China has cut port fees in order to cushion exporters.
Rates for 40-foot containers from China to Western Europe are back to pre-pandemic levels, according to Gary Wilcox, the CEO of logistics firm JAG UFS Group, which has an office in Beijing. Shippers are now paying 25 percent of what they were shelling out at the peak of the pandemic,
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Conservation measures on Spanish mackerel introduced by an Australian state strike the right balance between conservation and economics, according to Victoria, Australia-based fisheries consultant Anthony Ciconte.
The new rules, introduced by Queensland Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Department for Queensland’s East Coast fishery, will come into effect October 2022 and will result in commercial catches being limited to 165
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A new labeling requirement for foreign food imports by China continues to create difficulties for foreign exporters, and a lack of transparency from Chinese customs authorities is complicating matters, according to a new policy document from the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.
Chinese Customs Decrees 248 and 249, implemented at the beginning of this year, requires food imported into China to have Chinese-language labeling and
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The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen is offering generous subsidies for tuna-vessel purchases and catch returns.
The city will reimburse local fishing companies up to 30 percent of the cost of a ...
Photo courtesy of Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural
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Ecuador hopes to sign a free trade agreement with China by December, even as the country has just secured a USD 1.5 billion (EUR 1.5 billion) restructuring of debt owed to Chinese banks.
Rumors of a bilateral trade deal have been floated throughout 2022, but Ecuador’s commitment to signing a FTA with China was confirmed by Ecuador Production, Trade, and Investments Minister Julio Jose Prado on 17 August, 2022, and
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Increasingly sophisticated satellite systems are making life much harder for vessels perpetrating illegal fishing, according to Starboard Maritime Intelligence, a New Zealand-based satellite firm.
Starboard recently contributed to a Uruguayan investigation of a Chinese vessel, the Lu Rong Yuan Yu 606, detained for allegedly squid jigging in Uruguay’s exclusive economic zone.
Starboard has come up with a system of tracking and displaying
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An ambitious subsidy program announced by the southern city of Shenzhen aims to increase the efficiency of China’s aquaculture industry by improving local larvae quality and breeding efficiency through improved genetics and the use of artificial intelligence.
The Shenzhen Municipal Fishery Modernisation Investment Measures Program will provide subsidies worth up to CNY 30 million (USD 4.2 million, EUR 4.2 million) to local firms working
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The Irish Fish Producers Organisation is fighting back against what it deems to be unfair treatment by the European Union, Norway, and the Irish government.
Facing what it says is a 30 percent decline in catches post-Brexit, IFPO wants government to use “innovative ways” to increase the national fishing quotas allotted to Ireland by the E.U. These include negotiating long-term leases on valuable quotas from other E.U. members like
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Premium prices being paid by Chinese consumers for krill-based health products suggest strong revenue growth for Oslo, Norway-based Aker BioMarine, which increased its krill meal output by 13 percent to 39,000 metric tons in the first half of 2022.
Imported jars of Aker’s Superba brand krill oil capsules – each with 60 capsules and English-language labeling – are selling for CNY 772 (USD 110.92, EUR 111.06) on JD.com, one of
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