Mark Godfrey is an Irish journalist covering the agriculture and fisheries sectors in Asia, with a focus on China. Proficient in Mandarin, he has frequently traveled across China's fisheries and aquaculture regions and learned the inner workings of China's corporate world during a nearly three-year stint at the Financial Times' “China Confidential” publication. He has also reported widely across Southeast Asia and the former Soviet Union. He has educational certificates in agriculture and food science, as well as Mandarin.
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The collapse of China’s real estate sector has caused investors to look elsewhere for returns, and more are turning their attention to the country's aquaculture sector.
Chinese consumers are increasingly favoring premium seafood, and the country's industrial base has responded to the shift by pouring millions into the development of state-of-the-art aquaculture facilities.
Most recently, state-owned China International Marine
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Maltese farmed tuna producers are planning to send more of their exports to China in the near future as part of market diversification efforts to reduce its currently heavy reliance on Japan.
Charlon Gouder, the head of aquaculture resource firm Gouder and Associates as well as the CEO of the Maltese Federation of Aquaculture Producers, said Maltese tuna firms are at “an advanced stage” of talks with Chinese food safety authorities
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Taiwan’s fishing industry is wary about installing Wi-Fi internet access on distant-water fishing vessels, claiming it could create potential management issues and safety hazards.
The Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF) has led a campaign calling on the Taiwan Fisheries Agency, as well as global seafood brands and retailers, to ensure that Wi-Fi is installed on Taiwanese vessels.
Taiwan Tuna Association
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Chinese shrimp specialist Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products has announced the annulment of a memorandum of understanding between it and a Saudi sovereign investment fund.
Last summer, Guolian announced a USD 560 million (EUR 515 million) tie-up with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) that would have given it access to various lines of credit. PIF, which in June 2023 acquired a 42 percent stake of National Aquaculture Group (NAQUA), a
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Marine ecologists have questioned the value of a newly proposed Irish marine protected area (MPA), and environmental groups have warned that there needs to be effective engagement with the fishing industry for the zone to be successful.
While welcoming the proposed MPA – covering more than 305,000 hectares of marine waters off Wexford on Ireland’s east coast – in principle, Irish NGO coalition Fair Seas has called for
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China is prioritizing a free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council in 2024, which would give Saudi Arabia low-duty access to the Chinese market for its exports of shrimp. The Gulf Cooperation Council is a trade bloc consisting of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. China has been negotiating a free trade deal with the GCC since 2005, but China has tightened its political bonds with the
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