Fish Update Briefing, Friday, April 27
CHINESE EYE IRISH SEAFOOD SET-UP
TWENTY seafood buyers from China have visited five different seafood businesses in Donegal as part of Bord Bia’s Marketplace International drive. In total, almost 550 food buyers, from 50 countries, joined the week-long trade development event, the largest of its kind ever to take place in Ireland. Bord Bia is targeting €40 million worth of new business as a direct result of this year’s event. In Donegal, Chinese buyers took part in a tailored seafood itinerary, visiting Errigal Bay Seafoods, Meenaneary, Live Irish Shellfish in Burtonport and Irish Premium Oysters in Dungloe. They later toured the large fishing port of Killybegs
CALL FOR CANADIAN SEAL CULL
THE number of seals on the edge of the Gulf of St Lawrence in Canada has risen so rapidly in recent years that it has led to calls for an increased seal hunt to protect fish stocks. From just 5,000 in 1965, the numbers are thought to total at least 100,000 today. Looking further afield, the north west Atlantic harp seal population is estimated at about 7.4 million animals — almost six times what it was in the 1970s, according to the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Eldred Woodford, president of the Canadian Sealers Association, said: ‘If you don’t protect the ecosystem in controlling some of the top predators in the food chain, then something’s going to go out of whack.’ However, his comments and his association\’s demand is certain to meet with fierce opposition from animal groups.
PC ‘ROBBED’ OF FISH LUNCH
A POLICE officer visiting the Welsh seaside resort of Tenby was taken aback recently when a ‘smash and grab’ theft took place before his eyes. The assailant was a seagull and his ill-gotten gains were part of PC Ryan Francis’s fish and chip lunch. The off-duty officer was visiting Pembrokeshire with his family when he got his phone out to take a photo. ‘If he\’d wanted a chip I would have given him one, but he was a bit cheeky and went straight for the fish,’ joked PC Francis, who is moving to Wales after 16 years with the police in London. He managed to take a snap of the incident which was later posted up on Facebook.
ICELAND FISHING DEAL
A MAJOR fishing alliance looks to be developing in Iceland following a move by the trawling and fish processing company Brim hf to acquire a big stake in HB Grandi, the country’s second largest fishing company. The deal will make Brim the largest shareholder of HB Grandi with 34.1 per cent ownership of the shares. Brim was founded in 1998 with just one vessel. HB Grandi has the larger of the two fleets.
