Chris Chase is the Portland, Maine-based associate editor of SeafoodSource. Previously, he worked covering local issues at the Coastal Journal in Bath, Maine, where he won multiple awards from the Maine Press Association for his news coverage and food reviews. Chris is a graduate of the University of Maine, and got his start in writing by serving as a reporter and later the State Editor of The Maine Campus, an award-winning campus newspaper.
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Trident Seafoods, High Liner Foods, and Sysco are among the U.S. seafood firms that have suspended relationships with Chinese processors named in the latest Outlaw Ocean Project report, which revealed their use of North Korean labor, in violation of U.N. sanctions and U.S. law.
The use of North Korean laborers was prohibited in 2017 by the United Nations Security Council in response to the country testing a series of nuclear and ballistic
… Read MoreSeafood processed by Chinese companies using labor from North Korea has made its way into international seafood supply chains, according to a new Outlaw Ocean report published in The New Yorker magazine.
The latest story builds on previous work by the Outlaw Ocean Project which discovered evidence of Uyghur labor in the supply chains of prominent seafood companies, retailers, and distributors. The new report details evidence gathered over
… Read MoreProximar Seafood, the Norwegian company developing a land-based salmon recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in Japan, said it continues to be on track to have its first harvest in Q3 2024 even as it takes steps prevent a similar tank breach to one that occurred in early February.
The company began construction on its RAS facility – located in Yama, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan near Mt. Fuji – in 2021, using equipment
… Read MorePlans for a massive land-based prawn aquaculture operation in Western Australia dubbed “Project Sea Dragon” are once again in jeopardy as a federal court has ordered the liquidation of the company and found its administration should be “brought to an end” – with the order staying liquidation for 28 days from 22 February to appeal the ruling before proceeding.
Project Sea Dragon was originally intended to be an
… Read MoreHigh Liner Foods saw an increase in sales volume but a drop in gross profit and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in 2023 as challenging market conditions and a supply glut early in the year shrank margins.
The company reported in its FY-2023 results that its sales volume reached 257 million pounds, a 2.4 percent, or 6.1 million pound, increase over the 250.9 million pounds it sold in the same
… Read MoreAn arbitrator has found the Fish Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) will have to pay damages related to costs incurred by seafood processors in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, when snow crab fishermen refused to fish for six weeks in 2023.
The Association of Seafood Producers (ASP), which represents seafood processors in the Canadian province, issued a release on 20 February providing an update on arbitration relating to the
… Read MoreThe U.S. Department of the Treasury has extended the deadline for companies importing Russia-origin seafood to get the products into the country.
U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on 22 December expanding a U.S. ban on Russian seafood to include imports of Russia-origin seafood products that were processed in third countries. The Biden administration later issued more guidance adding several harmonized tariff schedule (HTS)
… Read MoreNordic Aquafarms has been attempting to build a land-based salmon recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) in Belfast, Maine, U.S.A. for six years and has recently reaffirmed its commitment to the location, even though the project has yet to break ground.
Nordic Aquafarms announced its plans to build a salmon RAS in Maine in January 2018, with initial projections aiming for the 33,000-metric-ton (MT) facility to become fully operational by 2020.
… Read MoreThe South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) is mulling whether to include new regulations for on-demand or “ropeless” gear on black sea bass pots as a means of preventing adverse impacts on whales.
The black sea bass pot fishery uses pot traps that rest on the bottom and vertical line with a buoy attached for retrieval – similar to other pot fisheries like lobster or crab. The fishery has been experimentally using
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