Chris Loew

Construction on the Soul of Japan land-based salmon aquaculture facility has officially begun.  The recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) farm will be the largest of five land-based facilities either operating or currently under construction in Japan. Representatives of Shimizu a major Japanese construction company that is the general contractor for the building project, and Oriental Consultants Global, a Tokyo-based project management… Read More

The news of rebounding Japanese sardine stocks in early 2023 has been greeted with dismay by Japan's seafood industry, as the cheaper sardines are supplanting more profitable mackerel in the global marketplace.

Catches of spotlined sardines (Sardinops melanostictus) have been strong in Japan this year since the beginning of February, continuing an ongoing trend. But the species' abundance has been linked to a decline in mackerel catches.

… Read More

The North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) recently reported the 2022 salmon catch in its area of oversight at 710,400 metric tons, the second-lowest total since 2000.

The declines were blamed on lower landings of pink and chum salmon in Asia, where those species make up most of the catch, according to a NPAFC scientific committee report.

The Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based NPAFC, which includes Canada, Japan, South Korea,

… Read More

Nissui released its consolidated financial results for fiscal year 2022, ending 31 March, 2023, revealing higher sales on account of a rebound from loosened Covid-19 measures, but lower operating profits mainly due to higher material costs.

The Tokyo, Japan-based seafood conglomerate’s report and related presentation materials highlighted a net sales increase of 10.7 percent, reaching JPY 768 billion (USD 5.5 billion, EUR 5.1 billion), up

… Read More

Two of Japan’s biggest trading companies, Marubeni and Sumitomo, have separately begun partnerships with insect protein companies, aiming to both use and sell the alternative protein for aquaculture feed purposes in Japan.

Japan is the second-largest user of fishmeal in the world, with much of it imported from Peru  for its yellowtail and sea bream aquaculture operations. But recently, prices for fishmeal have been rising, leading to

… Read More

Hannah Schlosstein is the new international marketing coordinator for Asia at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). She earned a politics and sociology undergraduate degree from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and then worked as a language teacher in rural Japan for two years. Schlosstein most recently worked as a clinical programs manager at the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) Hospital in Juneau. She

… Read More

Japan’s imports of fish and fish preparations from Russia in 2022 rose to a new record value of JPY 155.2 billion (USD 1.14 billion, EUR 1.05 billion), up 12.9 percent from 2021, frustrating other nations, especially Canada, that have vowed to heavily limit or totally ban imports from the country following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The previous record high value of seafood imports from Russia to Japan occurred in 2018, when

… Read More

Steinar Ludvigsen, the founder and general manager of Kristiansund, Norway-based Seabed Innovation, has big plans to market uni sourced from Norwegian sea urchins, beginning with European and Asian markets.

Many aspects of his plan are novel. For example, while scuba divers conduct most urchin harvesting around the world by carrying a basket and a claw tool, Ludvigsen said this process is too costly in Norway.

“We have a new method to

… Read More

At Japan's 2023 Foodex show at the Tokyo Big Sight venue in 10 March, Andrew Rooney, the second-generation managing partner of Northern Ireland-based Rooney Fish, was on the lookout for a Japanese importer and distributor for his company's brown crab.

Aiming to diversify the markets in which he operates, Rooney set up shop at Foodex, Japan’s largest food exposition with over 73,000 visitors, he eventually found a partner in Godak

… Read More

For a culture that prides itself on its fresh fish offerings, it’s no wonder that aged fish is not a widely popular option for Japanese consumers.

However, despite its lack of widespread adoption in the country, innovators in this sector are trying to stray from the norm, as is the case with two former classmates from Kanoya City, Kagoshima Prefecture.

Tsutomu Shimada and Takuhiro Hachiya founded Plow A Land Co. in the same city in which

… Read More