Fish Said Fred, Sainsbury’s and Lyons Seafoods are ASC winners

The annual Aquaculture Stewardship Council UK awards were announced last night, with accolades for Fish Said Fred, Sainsbury’s and Lyons Seafoods.

Fish Said Fred was the winner of the ASC Brand of the Year award, now in its second year. Sainsbury’s won the ASC UK Retailer of the Year award for an impressive third year in a row, recognising its commitment to source 100% ASC certified farmed seafood, and Lyons Seafoods bagged the ASC UK Retail Supplier of the Year award. 

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Grimsby is home to new UK Seafood School

woman preparing seafood

A new seafood training centre for the UK has been opened in Grimsby, home to the UK’s largest fish processing hub.
The UK Seafood School is being hailed as a “fantastic opportunity” for young people who want to enter the industry.

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Salmon prices rise again at last

Salmon fillets on ice

The long slide in fresh salmon prices may be over as they increased significantly last week for the first time in more than two months.

Just two weeks ago they dropped to below NOK 70 a kilo (£4.92), a figure last seen two years ago.

But last week (week 41) the slump came to a halt and the price jumped up by NOK 3.06 per kilo to NOK 72.76 per kilo (£5.12), according to Statistics Norway which monitors trends on a weekly basis. This move represents an increase of 4.4%.

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Iceland fish farmer signs major finance deal

Laxey, one of Iceland’s younger salmon farming companies has signed a financing agreement with Arion Bank for an undisclosed sum to support its plan to operate a facility on land in Vestmannaeyjar, the country’s western isles.

It says the agreement is an important part of Laxey’s long-term operations and supports the company’s continued development.

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Red tape stalling growth, say NZ aquaculture leaders

Senior figures in New Zealand’s aquaculture industry are warning that red tape and lack of access to key areas of the coastline are seriously hindering growth.

Concerns over bureaucracy and other issues were expressed at the recent Aquaculture New Zealand conference in Nelson, at which the view was expressed that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get access to the sea.

NZ King Salmon Chief Executive Carl Carrington said that while opportunities to expand the aquaculture sector were huge, only 0.01% of the country’s large marine economic estate was currently being farmed.

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Double ASC certification for shellfish brands

Opened oysters

Morecambe Bay Oysters and Loch Fyne Oysters, two key brands in the Associated Seafoods group, have been recognised for their good practices by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.

To achieve certification as a responsible seafood producer under the ASC standards, Morecambe Bay was required to meet stringent requirements regarding its environmental and social impact.

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Mowi reports record harvest for Q3

Salmon giant Mowi produced an all-time high third quarter harvest of 161,000 tonnes with profitability in Scotland continuing to improve. The figure is 26,000 tonnes higher than a year ago. The main and most significant improvement was at Mowi’s Norwegian farms with the Scottish harvest between July and September unchanged at 15,000 tonnes.

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DNA modelling promises a breakthrough for seabed sampling

starfish on rocks on the seabed

Seabed sampling to assess the impact of fish farms could be speeded up significantly through the use of environmental DNA technology, a research project has concluded.

The “MeioMetBar” study took the form of a six-year collaboration between regulators, researchers and fish farmers in Scotland and Germany.

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