Nicki Holmyard

Contributing Editor

Nicki Holmyard lives and breathes the seafood industry. As a specialist freelance writer for 25 years, she has travelled the globe to research in-depth articles, interviews and news stories on all aspects of fishing, aquaculture and processing for international journals and newspapers. She has contributed to books on sustainable seafood sourcing and the effects of climate change on the oceans, and acts as a communications consultant for leading fishing and aquaculture concerns. Nicki is also a director of Offshore Shellfish Ltd, which is developing Europe’s largest rope-grown mussel farm.


Author Archive

Published on
September 29, 2022

Scientists at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) in Portugal have been undertaking research into the health risks associated with human ingestion of nanoparticles found in aquaculture products.

The lab’s Nanoculture Project is investigating the presence and effects of the most-used nanoparticles, titanium dioxide and silver, in turbot, mussels, and the seaweeds dulse and sea lettuce, all of which are farmed in the

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Published on
September 19, 2022

Dverberg, Vesterålen, Norway-based Andfjord Salmon is still not producing any revenue, but it’s getting closer to that critical milestone, the company said in its second-quarter 2022 results.

Andfjord Salmon released its first smolts into its first flowthrough pool at its farm in Kvalnes, Andoya, Norway, over the summer, and since the end of June, the salmon have grown from an average weight of 120 grams to around 400 grams in

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Published on
September 15, 2022

Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, Norway, have used the CRISPR/Cas9 method of gene editing to produce salmon that cannot produce gametes (eggs and sperm), so cannot reproduce.

If produced for commercial purposes, any escaped fish would be unable to breed with the wild salmon population. They would also not experience the issue of early sexual maturation, which can lead to poor meat quality and greater

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Published on
September 13, 2022

A venture to grow black tiger prawns in an intensive culture system in rural northern Greece has become one of the first commercially viable operations for the species in Europe, according to its general manager.

Europrawn Hellas General Manager of Aquaculture Albert Ferrer Lladosa said his company was founded to develop sustainable, environmentally friendly, and ethical shrimp aquaculture in Europe based on FAO principles for blue economies,

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Published on
September 12, 2022

Speaking at the Global Shrimp forum on 7 September in Utrecht, The Netherlands, Tim O’Reilly, managing director and owner of Taprobane Seafood Group in Sri Lanka, said the country is on its way to hitting its goal of producing 100,000 MT of shrimp annually.

Taprobane has become the largest shrimp producer and processor in Sri Lanka through its introduction and proliferation of the farming of whiteleg shrimpv (L. vannamei) shrimp to the

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Published on
September 8, 2022

The inaugural Global Shrimp Forum, taking place in Utrecht, The Netherlands, from 6 to 8 September, attracted more than 400 delegates from 35 countries, to discuss top-traded seafood product on the planet by volume.

In the forum’s first day, shrimp-sector leaders from India, Ecuador, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia offered insights into the trajectory of shrimp aquaculture in their countries. They also outlined the biggest challenges facing

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Published on
August 31, 2022

Ålesund, Norway-based Artec Aqua has signed a contract with Icelandic start-up Geo Salmo to supply a turnkey land-based grow-out facility for Atlantic salmon at Þorlákshöfn, near Iceland’s capital of Reykjavik.

Build-out will take place in several stages, with a planned overall capacity of 18,900 metric tons (MT) head-on gutted (HOG) fish, according to a release. Artec Aqua has been contracted to provide design,

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Published on
August 18, 2022

A pilot mentoring program set up by Seafood Scotland and VisitScotland, as part of a “Beyond the Boat” initiative, is proving to be a hit with seafood businesses keen to diversify into the growing food tourism sector.

The program was run earlier this year as a series of one-hour webinars, and included bespoke mentoring from experts in funding, compliance, tourism insights, storytelling, digital marketing, and organizing events. The

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Published on
August 9, 2022

A global comparison of reported food fraud across 80 countries and 72 seafood species is the subject of a new paper published in Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, which found that seafood fraud is a growing international problem impacting food safety.

The 11 sins of seafood: Assessing a decade of food fraud reports in the global supply chain” examined seafood fraud incidents over the past 10 years reported via

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Published on
July 27, 2022

Environmental law group ClientEarth and the Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) have joined forces to file legal action against the Dutch food and consumer product safety authority (NVWA) over claims it has failed to police misreporting of fish catches and overfishing, in direct violation of the laws of the European Union.

The move comes one year after the organizations launched a legal challenge against the government of The Netherlands

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