Here’s a look at this week’s must-read SeafoodSource news stories:
• This week’s SeafoodSource coverage included two can’t-miss Q&As, both with chefs who talk about the importance of seafood sustainability. Francois Pasteau of L’Epi Dupin in Paris talked about sustainable seafood’s role on his menu and on menus throughout France, while Eric Sayers of CQ’s Restaurant in Hilton Head Island, S.C., talked about his participation in the South Carolina Sustainable Seafood Initiative and how removing Chilean sea bass (CSB) from the menu cost him a few customers.
• Marine ecologist Dr. John Volpe of the University of Victoria in British Columbia has developed an analytical tool designed to assess and compare the environmental performance of marine finfish aquaculture operations and regions. Funded by the Lenfest Oceans Program and Pew Charitable Trusts and dubbed the Global Aquaculture Performance Index, the tool was released to the public on Wednesday.
• Perhaps no whitefish has climbed the ranks faster than tilapia, especially in the United States, where the species is already America’s fifth favorite fish, emerging from obscurity just 10 to 15 years ago. But the global tilapia industry is at a crossroads of sorts, dealing with rising production and labor costs in China, the No. 1 producer, and increasing competition from other farmed whitefish species like pangasius and catfish. Check out my Q&A with Norbert Sporns, CEO of Seattle-based HQ Sustainable Maritime Industries, a vertically integrated tilapia producer in China’s Hainan province. Also this week, the three-day Tilapia 2010 conference is taking place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• Bluefin tuna is once again a hot topic. Japanese seafood giant Maruha Nichiro is doubling its bluefin output by setting up a new production site in Wakayama Prefecture and expanding its existing farms, with the goal of boosting its annual harvest to 4,000 metric tons by 2014. Bluefin also swam its way in the mainstream media this week, with stories about increasing bluefin numbers in the western Atlantic, European Union Fisheries Commission Maria Damanaki standing firm on bluefin quota cuts and Greenpeace calling out Australia for failing to protect bluefin stocks. Check out these stories and more in the SeafoodSource news feed, which is updated throughout the weekday.
• Finally, don’t miss out on SeafoodSource Contributing Editor Lindsey Partos’ coverage of the SIAL 2010 food and beverage exhibition in Paris, including interviews with some of Europe’s key seafood players and reports on new seafood product and packaging developments and the global food trade’s recovery from the economic downturn.
