1. Lobster dispute gets violent: “What took place on Matinicus Island last week took fishing territory disputes to a whole new level,” wrote James Wright, SeaFood Business associate editor, on Thursday, after a Maine lobsterman shot another. According to state police, 68-year-old Vance Bunker shot Chris Young, 41, in the neck with a .22-caliber handgun during an argument. Nearly 200 traps had been cut over the weekend, possibly prompting the encounter, which resulted in a temporary suspension of lobster fishing in the area.
2. What’s in a name: Mike Urch, took the name game the United Kingdom is playing with pangasius to task in his Tuesday commentary. Four names — river cobbler, basa, pangasius and catfish — are legally used in the UK to refer to the farmed freshwater species, but the “plethora of names for the same fish confuses customers,” said Urch.
3. Shrimp ponds abandoned: Low shrimp prices and high feed costs are factors driving Vietnamese shrimp farmers out of business. The area dedicated to shrimp ponds this year has dropped to 566,000 hectares from 720,000 last year. Fewer countries are also importing shrimp from the country, slipping from 126 to 120 and the second half of 2009 isn’t looking any better. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said the shrimp prices will continue to fall.
4. Chile’s ISA woes started in Norway: Researchers analyzed tissue samples from numerous ISA-afflicted fish in Chile and discovered that they related most closely to a 1996 outbreak in Norway. The virus that has stymied Chile’s farmed salmon industry for the past two year was already present in the country and mutated to new strains. The study, published in the current issue of Virology Journal shows the first comprehensive report tracing ISA from Europe to South America.
5. Precarious year for pangasius: It’s been a volatile year for Vietnam’s burgeoning pangasius industry. Last year, it was marked by oversupply. This year, there’s a supply shortfall. However, prices, which increased in the first half of 2009, are stabilizing — for now. Also, after years of aggressive growth, production leveled off in 2009, with the country exporting nearly 170,000 metric tons of pangasius in the first four months of the year.
