Mark Godfrey

China’s recent embrace of deepwater mariculture is generating massive opportunities for the country’s seafood industry, but it’s also presenting challenges for certification bodies, which are finding it difficult to assess these facilities properly.

China has been doubling down on deepwater offshore mariculture and pushing major expansions of the sector in recent years. Major state corporations, including Shandong Marine Group

Chinese companies and multinational krill exporters alike are extolling the health benefits of krill oil, heavily marketing the product to China’s aging population as a cure to many of the demographic’s ailments.

This advertising push comes amid an outcry from environmentalists, stating that geopolitical tensions have prevented the further protection of already fragile Antarctic marine ecosystems where trawlers harvest the tiny

Chinese seafood processors are sounding the alarm over fears of a supply glut, labor issues, high inflation, and weak demand.

They’re claiming they have experienced potentially irreparable damage from the Covid-19 pandemic, from which some fear they might never fully recover.

David Jiang, managing director at Unibond Seafood International, which sources seafood in China for European customers, is predicting a dire outlook for the sector

Sweeping sea views from a hotel window, with a steaming cup of coffee on a glass table, are not images one typically associated with a deepwater fish farming facility, but that’s exactly how Chinese news outlets have advertised the new Min Tou Number 1 fish farm, billing the facility as the future of Chinese mariculture.

The footage from the Min Tou Number 1 platform, shown on provincial and national broadcast news recently, depicts

At a company event at its headquarters in Chengdu, China, in June 2023, Tongwei Foods President Chen Bo announced a trebling of the conglomerate’s processed seafood sales in 2022.

Tongwei, which is a major player in solar power and which has installed panels above many of its aquaculture facilities, has been keen to improve on its profit margins and shift away from reliance on its staple, low-margin aquafeed business. Tongwei recorded a

McDonald’s China recently announced that it will now include the blue Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) eco-label on its Filet-o-Fish sandwiches, Double Fish burgers, and Kids Fish Fillet burgers, served in more than 5,000 restaurants nationwide.

The initiative, according to Gu Lei, chief impact officer of McDonald’s China, “will continue to help protect the vitality of the ocean.” Gu described McDonald's China as

Even as inflation remains persistent in Western economies, China may be entering a period of deflation due to weak consumer spending and dwindling demand for imports and exports both globally and locally.

China’s overall imports fell by 6.8 percent year-over-year in June, following a 4.5 percent decline in May. Exports dropped by an even more drastic 12.4 percent in value, according to data from China’s customs administration, but

Ocean Outcomes, a Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.-based nonprofit, recently established a fisheries improvement project (FIP) with Taiwan-based Fue Shin Fishery (FSF) that aims to improve environmental and labor standards on 10 longline tuna vessels in the Indian Ocean.

The wider goal of the FIP is “to improve fishery management strategies, environmental oversight, fishing practices, and crew welfare” on the 10 vessels, which net an annual

China has experienced a surge in Russian seafood entering the country recently, and is reprocessing and selling much of it to markets that have banned Russian seafood imports, including the U.S.

Bilateral seafood trade between the China and Russia rose 80 percent in the first quarter of 2023, according to Robin Wang, head of seafood marketing agency SMH International in Shanghai. Overall, Sino-Russian trade rose 38.7 percent year-over-year in

Singapore Crawfish is pivoting away from the Chinese market in favor of capitalizing on rising seafood consumption in majority-Muslim countries, according to CEO Desmond Chow.

Chow said the company is looking toward fast-growing economies and populations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for expansion, calling demand for halal-certified seafood products there  potential “gold mine.”

“We are looking for partners in