News Summary: July 30, 2014 

CP Foods is hosting global Supermarket meeting to address slavery, shrimp feed issues in Thailand 

Charoen Pokphand (CP) Foods is hosting a meeting in Thailand with UK and US supermarket and other sellers including Tesco, Morrisons, Costco, Birds Eye, Sodexo, and Brakes among others. The participants will meet with Thai officials, and tour CP plants. The goal, says CP, is to agree on the terms of an industry action group, which will work with CP to establish a global benchmark in sustainable shrimp-feed production. It will also help the Thai government create a strategy to halt human trafficking and forced labour in the seafood supply chain. 

CP has been one of the most proactive companies in Thailand in addressing labor problems, and yet has also born the brunt of negative publicity as well. They are taking a responsible leadership position here, and deserve widespread support. 

In other news, this is the best Coldwater shrimp season on the West Coast ever, say participants. With over 41 million pounds landed, harvests are on track to reach over 70 million pounds, and possibly approach the record 79 million pounds landed in 1989. At the same time, processing capacity continues to increase, and the resource is healthy. On the market side, there is a buying frenzy as shortages of Pandalus shrimp in Europe just won’t let up, and very little Canadian shrimp is coming to the US. 

Cargill has introduced an analytical tool to help shrimp farmers control EMS. The tool can provide practical advice to reduce mortality and manage the disease. Cargill also has some specific nutritional feeds designed to combat EMS. The work came out of a workshop held in Mexico last fall, but is applicable globally. 

The latest Magnuson draft contains language that would allow sellers of US seafood to label it as sustainable, so long as it came from a fishery managed under the Magnuson Act or equivalent, and that was not overfished or experiencing overfishing. There is some regional disagreement about whether NOAA should get into defining sustainability in this way, which is completely different than the MSC opposition to this provision, which they fear would cut into their market. 

We enjoyed reading a story from New York today, about how you just can’t keep a Nagle out of the fish business. Vinny Milburn was determined to stay clear of his family's seafood business in Boston and became a lawyer working with entertainment figures. But now, together with a partner he met in the music business, the two of them are opening a seafood market in upscale Brooklyn. “''There was nowhere to buy decent seafood in this neighborhood,’' said Adam Geringer-Dunn, his partner.

Finally, we are still seeking persons interested in joining SeafoodNews as our Science and Sustainability Editor.  Please click on the job advertisement for more information, or send this notice to someone you think might be a good fit.  We would like to receive applications by August 8th.

John Sackton, Editor And Publisher , Lexington, Massachusetts 

Seafood.com News 1-781-861-1441 

Email comments to jsackton@seafood.com

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