Atlantis Japan on Tuesday announced that it acquired a 75 percent stake in Los Angeles tuna supplier Prime Time Seafood.
Specializing in the grading and distribution of fresh tuna, Prime Time imports tuna worldwide and supplies it to customers throughout the United States and Canada. Atlantis Japan is a wholly owned subsidiary of Iceland-based Atlantis Group, a majority owner of Umami Sustainable Seafood.
“Prime Time will serve as our foothold and launch pad in the U.S. market. With sustainability issues being firmly dealt with, we believe that a large market for bluefin tuna will be opening up in the U.S., California especially,” said Oli Valur Steindorsson, CEO of Atlantis Group.
Atlantis and Prime Time also announced that they are developing closed life-cycle production of other marine finfish at their Ensenada, Mexico, operations.
Study: Tuna, billfish habitat shrinking
Tuna and billfish are becoming more vulnerable to fishing pressure due to shrinking habitat, according to a new study published by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), University of Miami and The Billfish Foundation.
An expanding zone of low oxygen, known as a hypoxic zone, in the Atlantic is encroaching upon the species’ preferred oxygen-abundant habitat, forcing them into shallower waters where they are more likely to be caught, according to the study, published in the journal Fisheries Oceanography. The study also forecasted that climate change and its associated rise in ocean temperatures will further increase the expansion of hypoxic zones in the world’s oceans.
“The hypoxic zone off West Africa, which covers virtually all the equatorial waters in the Atlantic Ocean, is roughly the size of the continental United States, and it’s growing,” said Dr. Eric D. Prince, NOAA’s Fisheries Service research fishery biologist.
QVD makes pangasius donation
In time for Christmas, Bellevue, Wash.-based QVD on Wednesday announced that it has donated more than USD 200,000 (retail value) of its breaded pangasius products to four food banks nationwide in 2010.
“At QVD, we are committed to social responsibility,” said company CEO Chris December. “In addition to helping employ thousands of people in Vietnam, we are committed to a vision of growing seafood to feed the world. In some cases, this means making a donation to a food bank so that people who are going through hard times can enjoy our wonderful product.”
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