Joanne Friedrick

Contributing Editor

Joanne Friedrick’s connection to SeafoodSource.com dates back more than 15 years to its Seafood Business roots. She has written on various seafood topics over the years, penning numerous Top Species Reports for Seafood Business as well as other features and columns. She currently writes the Seafood Business Insider column for SeafoodSource.com. Joanne has more than 35 years of daily newspaper and business-to-business writing and editing experience. In addition to writing about seafood, she has an extensive background covering the supermarket and specialty food retailing, housewares, convenience store and physical security industries. A Wisconsin native and former Chicagoan and die-hard Cubs fan, Joanne now calls Maine home.


Author Archive

Published on
November 13, 2013

As a high-quality, mild-tasting and “approachable” protein, tilapia has been a consistent hit on the menu at Atlanta-based Boneheads, a quick-service restaurant format in the South.

The restaurant chain, which has locations in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas and is in the process of opening three more, goes through about 3,000 pounds of tilapia a month. James Walker, a member of Boneheads’ board of directors, says tilapia

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Published on
October 15, 2013

A small but desirable segment of the seafood industry, langostinos are a limited-distribution product caught primarily by Chilean producers for sale within the United States.

The langostino industry is an example of how well a government can regulate and manage a fishery, says Robert Landy, VP of frozen purchasing for Stavis Seafood in Boston. Under direction of Sernapesca Chile, the Chilean fishing authority, the fishery has rebounded, he said.

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Published on
September 10, 2013

Planning, projecting and prophesying can’t accurately predict the outcome of the yearly running of the salmon. After all, it is subject to all the vagaries that come with being a wild species.

The salmon arrived early this year in several Alaska rivers, the largest domestic wild salmon source. According to Andy Wink, an analyst with The McDowell Group in Juneau, Alaska, both Bristol Bay and Prince William Sound sockeye came in early but were

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Published on
August 21, 2013

It may not be a name that rolls easily off the tongues of consumers, or even retailers and foodservice operators, but pangasius is riding a popularity wave within the United States.

After riding a wave of price hikes earlier this year due to increased tariffs, U.S. pangasius buyers have begun to breathe a little easier now that prices have returned to normal levels. Yet even with a 77-cent per kilogram increase in the duties assessed on imported

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Published on
July 16, 2013

After a turbulent 2012 in which supplies of blue-swimming crab imports fell and prices rose, the popular species is in a more stable mode this year.

Indonesia, the largest producer of blue-swimming crab, is on par with last year’s supply to the U.S. market. Through April, the United States had imported 4.9 million pounds, down from the 5.4 million pounds imported during the same fourth-month period in 2012.

The United States is the biggest

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Published on
June 19, 2013

The decision by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program to upgrade the status of some Chilean sea bass (Dissostichus eleginoides) fisheries, and Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) to Best Choice or Good Alternative has buoyed the spirits of those who have long dealt with this species, and see opportunities for expanding sales of the fish, also known as Patagonian toothfish.

“This has been a very special year,” says Michael

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Published on
May 19, 2013

While wild salmon may evoke images of the great outdoors, its farmed cousin has become equally adept at telling its own tale. Increasingly, farmed salmon is building a following through branding or by relying on its country of origin to create a positive marketing message.

Verlasso, which produces salmon in Patagonia, Chile, through a venture with AquaChile, spent 2012 focusing on building distribution, says Director Scott Nichols, and this year

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Published on
April 28, 2013
People around the world may use the words “shrimp” and “prawn” interchangeably, but the prawn is very much its own animal. Whether you are talking about giant river prawns (Machrobrachium rosenbergii) from Malaysia, which are also farmed in the United States, or Western king prawns (Melicertus latisulcatus) from Australia or the New Caledonia blue prawns (Lipopenaeus stylirostris), these aren’t to be confused with the pink, white and… Read More
Published on
March 21, 2013

If you ask the people who operate Flex Mussels, two Manhattan restaurants focused on mussels and little else, the versatile and affordable bivalves are the next chicken.

With retail prices in the USD 3 a pound range, mussels take center stage at Flex. Its menu offers 22 preparations each day, ranging from the most popular Thai in a coconut curry broth with lemongrass and kaffir lime to the Copenhagen with Danish blue cheese or the Southern

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Published on
February 14, 2013

An international superstar, shrimp has been coming to the U.S. market from around the globe for decades as the shrimp farming industry has evolved and matured.

Today, more than 35 countries export shrimp to America, although the majority of it comes from major producing countries in Asia and Latin America. From January through October 2012, Vietnam, Ecuador and India exported more than 40 million pounds of peeled frozen shrimp to the United

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