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
U.S. NGO Heifer International is looking to launch a large-scale aquaculture project in Cambodia and is using the operations of Chinese firm Bohai Aquatic Foods as inspiration.
In late August, Heifer employees visited Bohai’s shrimp farm in the Eastern Chinese province of Shandong, which is one of the largest shrimp farms in China, to better understand the intricacies of running such a large operation.
Heifer Country Director for Cambodia
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Irish fish-processing companies are facing heavy raw material shortages, and many are placing the blame on E.U.-mandated regulations.
Kenny Ward, an operations, sales, and logistics lead at Sean Ward Fish Exports – a processing firm in Killybegs, Ireland – told national radio station RTE that his firm’s factory has remained idle since March as trawlers, primarily from foreign countries, have turned elsewhere instead of meeting
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Spanish authorities have launched a marketing campaign in China aimed at garnering interest in Spanish cuisine and drinks.
“Eat Spain Drink Spain” has been previously rolled out across several other nations but is making its Chinese debut across multiple cities, such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Chongqing, Wuhan, and more, from 13 to 26 September.
“The campaign is directed at all food and drink products from Spain, including,
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A fishery improvement project (FIP) focused on longline tuna fishing by Taiwanese vessels in the Pacific Ocean is nearing completion, but the nonprofit that implemented the FIP is cautioning that even after the project hits its end goal of securing Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accreditation, there will still be plenty of work to be done to improve the work environments of fishers onboard these vessels.
Launched in April 2020, the Fue Shin
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Chinese shipbuilding firm Jianglong Shipbuilding has assembled and delivered its first workboat to Norwegian aquaculture vessel supplier Moen Marin.
The vessel – a 21-meter catamaran-style boat dubbed the Nabcat 2112 Hybrid – is one of two vessels Moen, which describes itself as the world’s largest supplier of working boats to the aquaculture industry, contracted Zhongshan, China-based Jianglong to build.
“The vessel
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The World Trade Organization (WTO) announced on 15 September that its 2022 deal to end harmful fisheries subsidies has officially entered into force.
"At a time when the international trading system faces profound challenges, the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies sends a powerful signal that WTO members can work together in a spirit of cooperation and shared responsibility to deliver solutions to global challenges,” WTO Director-General
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Chinese trout-farming firm Longyang Zhixian recently announced that its 2024 export totals increased 10-fold year over year, rising to CNY 300 million (USD 42.1 million, EUR 35.9 million) worth of rainbow trout.
Located in the sparsely populated Chinese province of Qinghai, vertically integrated Longyang’s trout farm sits on a glacial lake on the Tibetan Plateau and features more than 200 cages. The farm produces over 10,000 metric tons of
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A World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement to end harmful fisheries subsidies, originally signed by WTO member nations in 2022, is set to enter into force after the requisite number of countries have now ratified the deal.
The agreement prohibits global subsidies that support vessels engaging in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activities, fishing overfished stocks, and operating on the unregulated high seas.
“For far too long,
… Read MoreChinese restaurant group Jiumaojiu counting on international performance as domestic slump continues
Jiumaojiu International Holdings – the operator of one of China’s largest seafood restaurant chains – reported a 10.1 percent drop in sales during the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, signaling that Chinese consumer sentiment remains tenuous.
Profits at Jiumaojiu, which operates the popular Tai Er chain of restaurants, fell 13.7 percent year over year to CNY 58.7 million (USD 8.2 million, EUR 7 million)
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A Chinese company has transformed a nearly 20-year-old cargo vessel into a mobile salmon farm in a process that offers significant cost savings compared to operating a land-based salmon farm.
Alan Cook, who has served as the COO of New Zealand King Salmon and the managing director of Mowi Canada East, among several other roles in the seafood industry, told SeafoodSource that the Zhedai Yuyang 60001 may be just one of many similar vessels to come
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