China's Online Seafood Dealer Gfresh Lands Investment Deal with E-Commerce Titan Alibaba Chinese seafood e-commerce retailer G-fresh has secured US$20 million in funding from China’s premier online purveyor Alibaba and from investment firm Legend Capital that will support an expansion of Gfresh’s fresh seafood sales directly to Chinese consumers. The investment deal was announced this week at the China Fisheries and Seafood Expo in Qingdao. In addition to funding Gfresh’s online seafood marketplace, Alibaba and Legend Capital will also become board members for the company. This partnership represents continued expansion and evolution of China’s online seafood delivery industry. The investment shows a concerted effort by Gfresh to improve the cold-chain infrastructure of China’s online seafood retailers. “With this new investment, Gfresh plans to pursue product initiatives for its online seafood marketplace; expand to new markets; and upgrade its logistics supply chain service. All while leading the Chinese seafood industry into a new stage of development,” the company said in a press release. Beginning in 2018 the Mid-Atlantic sea scallop season will start one month later in April now that NMFS has passed a final rule that delays the start to the fishery. Federal officials said they wanted to push back the start the date to give government scientists and third-party researchers more time to collect stock data. The change is not likely to have a large impact on the Mid-Atlantic scallop fishery since most major industry stakeholders have been aware of that the delay could happen and because historical data shows that March and April are generally low producing months for a majority of Mid-Atlantic scallopers. The ban on shellfish harvesting in Wellfleet Harbor issued on Oct. 13 because of a norovirus outbreak will continue through at least Nov. 17, according to the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. The initial closure notice, which also ordered the recall of shellfish harvested from Sept. 26 onward, said the ban would last at least 21 days. That period has now been lengthened to at least five weeks. In other news, the CMA CGM Group, COSCO Container Lines, Evergreen Line and Orient Overseas Container Line propsoed the formation of the Ocean Alliance, which woul dbe the largest shipping alliance in the world. The four partners will share their capacity on several routes to offer more services for their customers. Together, they will operate 40 services on the East-West trades with around 100 ports of call and almost 500 port pairs. "By offering more ports and more direct calls as well as better transit times, we will provide our customers with unmatched quality services. This new offering is a cornerstone of our strategy as it reinforces our competitiveness and strengthens our position as a key player in the shipping industry," said Rodolphe Saadé, Vice Chairman of the CMA CGM Group. Finally, state fishery managers in New England are seeking public input on an addendum to the fishery management plan for Southern New England lobster stocks, which lays out options for addressing stock decline in the region. The goal is to increase egg production and reduce fishing mortality, through a