Icelandic Group Continues to Streamline Global
Business; Puts Belgian Subsidiary Gadus Up for Sale
The Board of Icelandic Group has initiated a public sales process for its Belgian operation, Gadus. The company is the second largest fish processor in the Belgian fresh fish market and sells about 7,000 metric tons of product annually. This is the latest subsidiary Icelandic Group has put up for sale in the last six months. In September Icelandic sold off its Spanish subsidiary, Icelandic Ibérica, to seafood producers in Iceland. Meanwhile, in December, Icelandic completed an agreement to sell its fresh cod producing and exporting subsidiary Ný-Fiskur to Nesfiskur ehf.
Vietnamese shrimp exporters hope they can raise their annual exporting revenues to $10 billion by expanding its production of black tiger shrimp. Minh Phu Company, Vietnam's single largest shrimp producer and exporter, said it is prepared to work with farmers to breed more black tigers. Minh Phu said it would use an advanced farming system that would double its current per hectare output.
In other news, Washington state lawmakers proposed two bills that would permanently extend a tri-state fishery management agreement for the Pacific Northwest Dungeness crab fishery. Currently, Washington, Oregon and California cooperatively manage the West Coast crab fishery in federal waters under a tri-state agreement was first authorized in 1998. The proposals sponsored by Senator Maria Cantwell and Representative Jaime Herrera Beutle will make this management scheme permanent. “This legislation preserves an effective agreement that has allowed Pacific Coast states to sustainably manage our crab fisheries for many years," said Cantwell.
Meanwhile, Australia has banned the imports of raw white shrimp to its market because of the first ever outbreak of white spot in five Queensland shrimp farms. Additionally, Australian shrimp farmers are demanding a federal investigation into how the disease arrived in Queensland. The suspicion is the disease was shipped in through tainted imports from an overseas supplier.
Finally, Chicken of the Sea International (COSI) has launched a campaign that challenges Americans to eat more seafood per the USDA’s updated Dietary Guidelines. The challenge encourages US consumers to use seafood instead of another protein in at least two meals per week. The program will run through March 15, 2017.
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