AquaBounty to Produce GM Salmon in Indiana 
with $14 Million Purchase of Bell Fish Company's Assets
AquaBounty Technologies will soon be able to produce its genetically modified AquAdvantage salmon in the United States as the firm has struck a $14 million deal to buy some of the assets of Bell Fish Company in Albany Indiana. AquaBounty said the facility's first harvest could come as soon as the third quarter of 2019. Once fully operational, the facility will have an expected annual capacity of 1,200 metric tons. "This acquisition marks an important milestone and provides the Company with its first commercial-scale facility in the United States for growing eco-friendly AquAdvantage Salmon. This site will enable production of healthy Atlantic salmon, which will not require vaccines or antibiotics, in a sustainable and responsible manner close to domestic consumers,” said Ronald Stotish, Chief Executive Officer of AquaBounty.
The International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) has recommended that the Joint Russian-Norwegian Fisheries Commission cut the 2018 Barents Sea cod quota 20 percent from last year citing poor recruitment in the fishery. The Council’s recommendation would set the total cod quota at 712,000 metric tons. This represents a 183,000 metric ton reduction from last year’s quota. The Commission will take up ICES advice when it makes its quota determination this fall.
In other news, a price war is breaking out over ecommerce lobster sales in the Chinese Province of Ningbo. Online retailers are offering live North American lobsters at deeply discounted prices in order to compete for sales and market share in both the online retail space and from traditional grocers.
Meanwhile, citing 20 years of success with groups such as Conservation International, the MSC, and others, the Walton Family Foundation (WFF) outlined its $37 million, five-year strategy for building sustainable seafood markets. The initiative is part of the foundation’s ocean strategy that takes a systems approach—working on both the supply and demand side—to promote sustainability in five core countries: Indonesia, Peru, Chile, Mexico and the United States. "The Walton Family Foundation has probably had more impact on the seafood sustainability movement than some of the more well-known consumer facing advocates," writes John Sackton in an analysis of the plan. "They have leveraged a market-based strategy in which they paid NGO's to lobby and convince the retail supply chain to adopt seafood sustainability standards."
Finally, the value of Vietnam's seafood exports to global markets is up this year but the increase is not because of more sales to the US market. So far Vietnam's seafood exports are up 7.5 percent worldwide but sales to the US market are down nearly 13 percent. The US is traditionally the top market for Vietnam's seafood exports like pangasius and shrimp. However, higher duty rates and the implementation of the catfish inspection program under the USDA have forced Vietnam's exporters to seek other markets like China.
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