Business & Finance

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia-based salmon farming company Tassal Group has announced its best ever results for the first half of a financial year.

Tassal reported its salmon sales for the six months ending 31 December, 2018, rose 21.7 percent by volume to 20,578 tons, and increased 32.8 percent in value to AUD 285.4 million (USD 203.5 million, EUR 179.9 million). The company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization

Two NGOs active in promoting sustainable fisheries in Japan – Ocean Outcomes Japan and Seafood Legacy – have announced they will merge. 

The organizations announced the merger in a joint press release, saying they plan to continue to lead the sustainable seafood movement in Japan, transitioning Japanese seafood producers and suppliers towards global best practices.

Shunji Murakami is the Japan Program Director for Portland,

Bumble Bee Foods, which pleaded guilty in 2017 to fixing the prices of canned tuna sold in the United States with competitors StarKist and Chicken of the Sea, has reached an out-of-court settlement with food distributor Sysco.

On 14 February, lawyers for the San Diego, California, U.S.A.-based tuna-focused company and the Houston, Texas-based broadliner jointly filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. 

“Plaintiff Sysco Corporation and

Grieg Seafood ASA achieved operational earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of almost NOK 1.1 billion (USD 127 million, EUR 112.5 million) before fair-value adjustment of biomass last year, up from NOK 904.4 million (USD 104.4 million, EUR 92.5 million) in 2017, with larger volumes and higher prices contributing to the rise.

The Bergen, Norway-headquartered Atlantic salmon producer harvested 74,623 metric tons (MT) of fish in 2018, an

The Walton Family Foundation Executive Director Kyle Peterson will leave his post by summer 2019, the organization announced in late January. 

Peterson plans to stay on board at the foundation for the next six months to facilitate the transition to new leadership, WFF Board Chair Carrie Walton Penner said in an email.

During his time with the Bentonville, Arkansas, U.S.A. Walton Foundation – which was created by Walmart founders

The Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative (MLMC) announced on 9 February that its director, Matt Jacobson, will be stepping down effective 25 February. 

Jacobson, the former CEO of Maine & Company, was hired as the first executive director of the MLMC in 2014. 

"On behalf of the entire board, we want to thank Matt for his dedicated service in this role over the past five years," Frank Gotwals, the MLMC board chairman and a

Sea Delight Canada has hired Albert Levy, an experienced business developer and leader for international markets, as its new sales manager for Canada.

Levy, who recently served Spanish framework company Encofrados J. Alsina as its country manager and managing director, specializes in expanding a business’s reach into international markets, a skill-set Sea Delight Canada is looking forward to leveraging, according to  company president

Cape Town, South Africa-based frozen fish supplier Sea Harvest Group is bidding to take over the remainder of its subsidiary, Western Australia-based Mareterram Limited.

Mareterram operates 11 trawlers harvesting wild-caught king and tiger prawns, as well as scallops and crabs. It also owns processing operations and the assets of the Craig Mostyn Group Food Service Division, which is an Australian business that markets and sells Sea Harvest hake

Roger O’Brien, the president and CEO of independent seafood distributor Santa Monica Seafood believes there’s only one way for his company to compete with heavyweight broadliners like Sysco and US Foods: get bigger.

In an interview with SeafoodSource, O’Brien said his goal is to grow Santa Monica Seafood into a USD 1 billion (EUR 877 million) company.

“It’s about surviving,” he said. “For us to survive,

Cooke Inc. announced on 1 February it has finalized its acquisition of Seajoy Seafood Corporation, one of Latin America’s largest producers of farmed shrimp, with operations in Honduras and Nicaragua. 

SeafoodSource previously reported on the acquisition, which was completed in November 2018, but the formal announcement came after the companies finalized the details of the transaction.

“The acquisition of Seajoy is an important