Joanne Friedrick

When communication is instantaneous via 24-hour cable TV, Twitter, blogs, e-mail and cell phones, news of a disaster and its consequences can be disseminated in a moment — and just as quickly distorted by inaccuracies.

The same is true if the crisis isn’t natural, but manmade: food recalls, workplace violence, a business scandal, an oil spill.

So when a situation occurs requiring an immediate and accurate response, it’s important that the

When it comes to wild shrimp, retailers and restaurateurs have a wealth of product from which to select. Harvesters from both coasts, the Gulf of Mexico and Canada all process wild shrimp to fit any recipe.

Both Florida rock shrimp and small Maine shrimp have found their way onto the menu at the Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York. Executive Chef Sandy Ingber uses wild shrimp from Florida for popcorn shrimp as well as an ingredient in Tuscan

Like fine wines, microbrewed beer and artisanal cheese, wild salmon has become a niche product in its own right, with different species and harvest locations giving the fish a unique appearance, taste and selling point with consumers.

On the fresh sheet at Elliott’s Oyster House in Seattle, Executive Chef Robert Spaulding offers a wide variety of king, coho and sockeye salmon from the Pacific Northwest when fresh salmon is in season. Included

If the marketers have their way, this could be the year that everyone talks tuna. The Tuna Council, which is made up of the “Big Three” U.S. tuna canners, along with the Thai tuna industry, launched the Tuna the Wonderfish! advertising campaign in January, with the goal of growing a category that has been declining since 2003, says Gavin Gibbons, director of media relations at the National Fisheries Institute in McLean, Va.

Even though canned

Like a song that is catchy, but not destined to become a smash hit, mahimahi has steadily climbed the charts in popularity, although no one is expecting it to surpass salmon or tilapia among fish lovers.

Still, suppliers such as Orca Bay Seafoods in Renton, Wash., are pleased with the steady growth of mahimahi since it first became part of their product offerings about 15 years ago.

“It definitely is a core item in our portfolio,” says Larry

Whether done on paper or through a computer software program, many businesses subscribe to the formula of marking up costs to set their prices. With an average 30 percent margin in mind, business owners then work out what to charge for their products. Markups can vary by industry, from 12 to 15 percent for grocers and food wholesalers to 100 percent or more for retail clothing.

This approach is effective, but according to author and consultant

The continuing interest in sourcing seafood from sustainable fisheries has focused a spotlight on Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus), which had two fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) earlier this year.

Longline-, trawl-, pot- and jig-caught cod in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands were determined to be sustainable and well managed by Moody Marine Ltd. for the MSC.

Aquamarine Seafood, a brokerage in San

While many discussions surrounding sustainable seafood have included the pros and cons of farmed fish, few have discussed the realities of farming fish in the United States. Aquaculture is big business for many countries, although not necessarily here in the United States. While some countries have experienced double-digit percentage growth from 2004 to 2006, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, America was not among them. Most

After coping with two years of quota cuts, the pollock industry is hoping to regain some ground with improved harvest levels in 2011.

Although a quota won’t be set until late in the year, Marc Wells, president of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers and VP-sales for Arctic Storm Management Group in Seattle, says the smaller fish in this year’s catch are a good indication that there’s a large and healthy biomass in the Bering Sea.

“Fishing took

The tilapia market is continuing to seesaw after the low supplies of 2008 were followed by a bounty in 2009. But when supplies are plentiful, prices fall and farmers respond cautiously when gearing up for the coming year.

China and South and Central America are the major tilapia producers. In 2009, China exported 322 million pounds to the U.S. market, with frozen fillets outnumbering whole frozen fish by nearly 2.5 to 1. In the fresh category,