Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) announced that they would give three tonnes of ice to each fishing vessel in effort to encourage and incentivize fishing.

Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) announced yesterday that they would give three tonnes of ice to each fishing vessel in efforts to encourage and incentivize fishing.

MIFCO said that they would provide three tonnes of ice to every fishing vessel today until existing stocks run out at their ice plants.

The offer is valid until the end of today.

Fisheries saw a downturn in the Maldives in the past month, with it having picked up once again in August.

Last month, MIFCO transferred four vessels that purchase fish in the south of Maldives to Lhaviyani atoll Felivaru, with a 100-tonne capacity vessel operating in Felivaru transferred to Gaafu Alif Kooddoo.

The conveyor belt sushi chain "Kura Sushi"  will be selling a limited number of "Wakayama Ume-grown Red Sea Bream", the second product of their in-house farmed "KURA Fish Farm" brand, from August 20th (Tuesday) to 23rd (Friday).

"Wakayama Ume-grown Red Sea Bream" is farmed in-house by KURA Osakana Farm (Kaizuka City, Osaka Prefecture), a subsidiary of KURA Sushi, which signed a comprehensive partnership agreement with Wakayama Prefecture in October 2023, at four new farms in Yura Town, Wakayama Prefecture. The fish are fed "Kishu Ume Sodachi", an extract made from the active ingredients of Kishu plums, and raised in the waters of Wakayama. The flesh is firm and has a light taste despite being well-fattened. According to a survey by the Wakayama Prefectural Fisheries Experimental Station, the nutritional value of EPA, DHA, oleic acid, etc. is higher than that of fish raised on regular feed.

KURA Fish Farm owns a total of 25 fish ponds, including the "Wakayama Ume-grown Red Sea Bream" and the currently farmed "Organic Hamachi." They plan to continue farming various fish species. They will incorporate "smart farming" such as the introduction of smart feeders that utilize AI and IoT technology, and will work to support fishing ports in Wakayama Prefecture and create a model for sustainable fishing.

Monrovia – The Liberian Fisheries Authority Director General has officially launched a new fisheries project in Monrovia with a call to the European Union to support the University of Liberia Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences Department to further enhance and strengthen the knowledge gap.

Speaking Tuesday, August 20, 2024, as the Key launcher during the grand launch of an EU-financed project, the Liberia Fisheries Governance Project (LFGP) at a local hotel in Monrovia Madam Emma Metieh Glassco urged the European Union to consider strengthening the human resources capacity of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department at the University of Liberia in its future agenda.

“We will need additional support for that program from the European Union” Madam Glassco messaged the European Union through its Ambassador who was also part of the ceremony.

At the same time Madam Glassco on behalf of the government of Liberia commended the European Union for what she termed as its strong support to the Liberian Fisheries sector over the past few years.

Advancing in the circular economy and standardizing the measurement of the carbon footprint were among the main milestones achieved by 21 salmon farming companies - both producers and suppliers - which in 2021 began a process to have more sustainable operational practices, based on the Clean Production Agreement (APL) signed between the Sustainability and Change Agency and SalmonChile. This culminated today with the successful implementation of 42 actions, which begins the certification process.

The ceremony was held within the framework of the seminar "Sustainability and Adaptation to Climate Change: Challenges for the Chilean Salmon Industry by 2050"

Source: MundoAcuicola | Read the full article here

"The priority should be to improve fish welfare and sustainability in existing fish farms and to reduce the production and consumption of farmed carnivorous species."

Three recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) fish farm projects in France are facing mounting public opposition, led by animal welfare NGO Welfarm and marine conservation NGO Seastemik.

Metz, France-based Welfarm, a partner of the larger Eurogroup for Animals and World Federation for Animals groups, initiated an oppositional campaign in April 2023

Author: Cliff White / SeafoodSource | Read the full article here

The International Fund for Fishing Safety, (IFFS) has awarded the first grant to train and support fishing vessel safety auditors for deployment in South Africa and Namibia.

The project is run by the Sea Safety Bee Trust (SSBT) on behalf of the Cape Town-based Sea Safety Training Group (SSTG). Established in 2013, the SSTG has a decade of experience in providing Safety Management Systems (SMS) for fishing vessels in the region.

Source: TheFishingDaily | Read the full article here

Thai Union Group PCL, the world’s seafood leader committed to sustainable practices, announced new partnerships aimed at tackling plastic pollution. The Company has joined forces with Seven Clean Seas and Second Life to implement innovative solutions that significantly reduce plastic waste entering the ocean.

Under the collaboration with Seven Clean Seas, a HIPPO (High Impact Plastic Pollution remOver) system has been deployed in the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. 

Source: FishFocus | Read the full article here

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has opened for public consultation, until August 27, the draft Resolution regulating the optimization mechanism for the bigeye tuna population (Thunnus obesus) in the area regulated by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) for the year 2024.

The surplus amount subject to regulation amounts to 1,828,443.54 kilograms and corresponds, by lists, to freezer tuna purse seiners, 400,322.72; to Canarian pole-and-line tuna vessels, 632,547.71 kilograms

Source: IndustriasPesqueras | Read the full article here

Dozens of workers from around the world may have been trafficked into the UK to work for a small family-owned Scottish fishing firm, a BBC investigation has revealed.

Thirty-five men from the Philippines, Ghana, India and Sri Lanka were recognised as victims of modern slavery by the Home Office after being referred to it between 2012 and 2020.

The workers were employed by TN Trawlers and its sister companies, owned by the Nicholson family, based in the small town of Annan on the southern coast of Scotland.

The TN Group denied any allegation of modern slavery or human trafficking and said its workers were well treated and well paid.

The company was the focus of two long-running criminal investigations but no cases of human trafficking or modern slavery have come to trial, although some of the men waited years to give evidence.

While TN Trawlers’ lead director, Thomas Nicholson, was under active investigation, TN Group companies continued recruiting new employees from across the world.

Experienced fisherman Joel Quince was 28 when he landed at Heathrow Airport in 2012, thrilled to have secured a job as a deckhand with TN trawlers.

Joel had a young family back home in the Philippines, thousands of miles away. He had been expecting to earn a good income working in the UK. He was to be paid $1,012 (£660) a month for a 48-hour week.

He caught a bus from London to Carlisle, where, he says, he was picked up by the owner’s son, Tom Nicholson Jr.

Source: bbc