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
September 1, 2022

A Beijing-based firm specializing in marine and air navigation systems has launched a subsidiary targeting projects in aquaculture, distant-water fishing, and seedlings for the aquaculture sector.

Hai Ying (Hainan) Technology Co. was established in late August 2022 with a registered capital of CNY 100 million (USD 15 million, EUR 15 million) by Beijing Hailanxin Data Technology Co., which also goes by the English name Highlander.  With

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Published on
August 31, 2022

Shipments of seafood from Alaska to China rose by 9 percent in the first half of 2022, due in part to an increase in yellowfin sole harvests and exports.

Exporters in Alaska shipped 29,654 metric tons (MT) of frozen flatfish sole to China in the first six months of 2022, up 49 percent year-on-year, according to data shared with SeafoodSource by McKinley Research Group, which provides research and consulting services for the Alaska Seafood

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Published on
August 30, 2022

China has slapped bans on three foreign seafood firms on the grounds of preventing transmission of COVID-19. South Korean firm Asia Cold Storage Co., CV Sinar Tirta from Indonesia, and Vietnamese firm BH Co. have had their licenses to import into China suspended for violating Food and Agriculture Organization guidance on COVID prevention, according to China’s Administration of Customs authority ... 

Photo courtesy of Creative

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Published on
August 30, 2022

Plans to diversify Kiribati’s economy away from a reliance on licenses for fishing access are some way off being realized, and the island needs to keep its focus on fisheries, according to a local tuna fisherman. 

Mike Tallarida, a Kiribati captain operating purse seine vessels in the Western and Central Pacific since 1995, told SeafoodSource he believes the local fisheries sector can be sustained at current levels for 30 years or

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Published on
August 30, 2022

The Seychelles is coaching other island nations in the Indian Ocean on ways to take more action to encourage greater transparency in fisheries-related management decisions.

The Seychelles is working with Madagascar, Mauritius, and Comoros on improving their data-collection and presentation efforts, according to Seychelles Minister for Fisheries and Blue Economy Jean-Francois Ferrari. The move could have consequences for management of regional

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Published on
August 29, 2022

Aquaculture operators in China's Sichuan province have been badly impacted by power cuts that have come as the result of a worsening drought.

Regional businesses have faced power cuts and malfunctioning back-up generators as a result of the failure of hydropower-generated electricity sources due to low water levels caused by a catastrophic heatwave and drought that has hit China over the past two months.

Faced with power cuts and malfunctioning

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Published on
August 29, 2022

Investment in China by foreign business has fallen off to an unprecedented degree due to a combination of COVID controls, rising interest rates elsewhere, and heightened geopolitical risks subduing international investment appetite for merger and acquisitions, according to a report from French investment bank Natixis.

Inbound merger and acquisitions deals into Asia fell in first half 2022, both by number of cases and total value, with the

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Published on
August 26, 2022

Two months of drought and high temperatures have forced some southern and central Chinese cities to ration power to non-residential facilities, with aquaculture and seafood-processing firms facing disruptions to their operations ... 

Photo courtesy

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Published on
August 25, 2022

There has been a notable decline in prices for containers shipped out of major Chinese ports, but the cost of shipping those containers remains high, according to a major seafood exporter.

The average price of a 40-foot container at the Chinese port of Ningbo was down 5.9 percent in July on the previous month, to USD 4,034 (EUR 4,046), according to Container xChange, an online trading and leasing platform. There was a 5.5 percent drop in the

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Published on
August 22, 2022

A Vanuatu court has dismissed a charge of illegal fishing against the crew of two Chinese vessels seized in early 2021 by Vanuatu authorities.

Two captains and 11 crew members of the Dong Gang Xing 13 and Dong Gang Xing 16 were found not guilty in a recent judgment issued by Vanuatu Supreme Court Judge Dudley Aru. The vessels and their crews were taken into custody in early 2021 after being found allegedly fishing illegally in Vanuatu’s

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