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.
Author Archive
China has signed a memorandum of understanding for a “Blue Partnership” with the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati.
Kiribati Fisheries and Marine Resources Development Minister Ribanatak Siwo signed the agreement after meeting with Sun Shuxian, director of China’s State Oceanic Administration and vice minister of China’s Ministry of Natural Resources, during a visit to Beijing on 1 July. According to Chinese media
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A new report published by the World Trade Organization Secretariat shows governments spend 63 times more on fishery subsidies than they have on official development assistance (ODA) toward fisheries sectors in the world's least developed countries.
The report, “Leveraging Global Partnerships to Implement the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies for a Sustainable and Food-Secure Future,” found that between 2010 and 2022, USD 6.2
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China’s highest court has published a ruling reinstating subsidies to a distant-water fishing company on the grounds that fishing in international waters is a strategic national priority.
The ruling, delivered by the Xiamen Foreign-related Maritime Tribunal, offers insight into the rationale for Chinese policymakers’ robust support for the subsidized expansion of distant-water fishing operations, even though the Chinese fleet has
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A Chinese company has signed a cooperative agreement with the state government of Kedah, Malaysia, to build a fishery hub.
Fujian Straits Planning Institute and the Hua Min Digital Intelligence Technology Co. signed a cooperation agreement with Kedah state to build the Kedah State Marine and Fisheries Economic Zone. The project will involve port development and cold chain warehousing as well as aquaculture operations, according to a statement
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Irish fishing representatives and E.U. advisory councils are seeking to tie Norway’s access to the E.U. market – which buys around 70 percent of Norway’s farmed salmon annually – to negotiations over fishery quotas, arguing that the Norwegian seafood industry should not be able to enjoy such large access to the E.U. while also fishing unsustainably in European waters.
The Irish Fish Producers Organization (IFPO)
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A reopening of the Chinese market to Australian lobster imports may be imminent, according to Australia Federal Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell.
Lobsters were one of several key export commodities to get caught up in a political dispute in 2020 when then-Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison questioned China’s handling of the outbreak of Covid-19 and suggested its origin in China be further investigated. Chinese trade
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The price of premium proteins, including seafood species such as croaker and salmon, have fallen in recent weeks in China.
Data collected from wholesale markets across China, reported by the China Agriculture Ministry, show weak price growth for key seafood species in line with a broader deterioration in protein prices.
The price for large yellow croaker in the first week of June at CNY 40.90 (USD 5.60, EUR 5.20) per kilo is down 3.2 percent on
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World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiators pushing for a treaty to end harmful fishery subsidies around the globe are setting their sights the next WTO General Council meeting, set to begin 22 July.
Negotiators failed to reach an agreement at the WTO’s ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, but on World Oceans Day on 6 June, the WTO released a video expressing optimism a deal might be reached during the July meeting.
“I
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Shanghai Kaichuang Marine International has acquired a final 30 percent stake in French Creek Seafood, a Canadian seafood trading firm headquartered in British Columbia, Canada.
Kaichuang Marine, a Shanghai-headquartered deep sea fishing company and seafood processor, will pay CAD 3.3 million (USD 2.4 million, EUR 2.2 million) for the stake through its wholly owned subsidiary Shanghai Kaichuang Deepsea Fisheries, it said in an announcement.
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