Mark Godfrey is an Irish journalist covering the agriculture and fisheries sectors in Asia, with a focus on China. Proficient in Mandarin, he has frequently traveled across China's fisheries and aquaculture regions and learned the inner workings of China's corporate world during a nearly three-year stint at the Financial Times' “China Confidential” publication. He has also reported widely across Southeast Asia and the former Soviet Union. He has educational certificates in agriculture and food science, as well as Mandarin.
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China, the world’s biggest exporter of seafood, could soon face tighter access to the European Union, the world’s biggest import market for seafood.
The European Parliament’s adoption of new fisheries control rules will result in more scrutiny of the origins of Chinese seafood, according to a parliamentary report investigating the implications of accepting Chinese products into the bloc.
China shipped USD 2.2 billion (EUR 2
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Chinese customs authorities have confirmed that the country’s seafood imports are up 13 percent over the first three quarters of 2023, but that imports from important supplier markets are down over the same period, sending mixed signals to exporters on the status of the market overall.
One of those key suppliers is the U.S. state of Alaska, and Alaskan exports to China are down 8 percent by volume in 2023, according to data compiled for
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At a recent meeting between European and Chinese officials, a European fisheries representative complimented China’s ability to crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities, drawing criticism from other European officials, especially as the bloc has taken action to limit rampant Chinese IUU actions.
Virginijus Sinkevičius, the commissioner for the environment, oceans, and fisheries at the European
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The Irish seafood industry has welcomed a EUR 25 million (USD 26.5 million) aid package recently granted by the European Union that aims to alleviate some of the negative effects of Brexit, such as reduced quotas and a downsized national fleet, which have led to skyrocketing local seafood prices and depressed consumption, Irish fishers claim.
Though most Irish seafood industry players think the package will provide some relief, they also believe
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Negotiators at the World Trade Organization (WTO) are intensifying talks to reach an agreement on a draft text that would limit subsidies driving overfishing and overcapacity among global fishing fleets.
Icelandic Ambassador to the WTO Einar Gunnarsson, who has been chairing the negotiations, said he hopes to get a deal outlined before the organization’s ministerial meeting in February.
“I can tell you we are really turning up the
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China is requiring its entire distant-water fleet to implement electronic monitoring on its ships from 2024 onward, according to a new government whitepaper that comes soon after the release of a bombshell Outlaw Ocean report focusing on alleged worker abuses that occurred on some of the nation’s distant-water trawlers.
The report links specific Chinese processing companies to state-run labor programs that have subjected the Uyghur ethnic
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The supply of Chinese tilapia has tightened, and farmgate prices for the product have risen by over 30 percent compared to the same period last year, leading many processors to either suffer through delays in fulfilling contracts or break contracts rather than face sharp losses adhering to them.
Tilapia farmgate prices in the southern province of Hainan peaked at CNY 5.30 (USD 0.74, EUR 0.68) per 500 grams in mid-September, compared to CNY 3.90
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The Gulf of Guinea off the coast of West Africa experiences some of the highest rates of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the world, but closer collaboration between Beijing-based officials and West African nations could help limit the IUU actions of Chinese vessels in the region, a new report details.
Published by the Stimson Center, a Washington, D.C., U.S.A.-based nonprofit that analyzes issues related to world peace,
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Labor campaigners have accused the Irish government of reneging on a commitment to protect migrant fishery workers by not introducing legislative amendments it had promised unions it would implement four years ago.
The accusations hit a boiling point in relation to a case that an Egyptian migrant fisher named Elamir Elmadkhoum brought forth regarding long working hours. In response to Elmadkhoum’s filing, Ireland’s High Court in May
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The European Union has taken steps that would tighten Chinese seafood’s access to the European market by approving new fisheries control rules that aim to prevent seafood caught by illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing activities from entering its ports.
Campaigners have long advocated for more transparency on distant-water fishing, including calls for public access to information on the ownership of fishing vessels and
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