News Summary: June 29, 2011
Today's Main Story: John Lees returns to help restore experienced leadership to scallop company Mar-Lees
John Lees, founder of scallop company Mar-Lees, is returning as co-CEO joining industry veteran John Turner. They vow to return the business to its former prominent market position.
P.E.I. seafood exporters have shipped thousands of pounds of live canner lobsters to customers in China. This is part of a concerted effort to develop trading relationships between seafood exporters in the province and buyers in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao and Xiamen. The daunting logistics involved in live shipment were addressed cooperatively with By the Water Shellfish, Milligan's Fisheries, Royal Star Foods, the AVC Lobster Science Centre and the Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association.
USDA's 90-day comment period has ended on its controversial proposal to expand its food safety and inspection authority to include imported catfish and catfish-like (pangasius) products – currently the responsibility of FDA. A powerful retailer trade association, whose members include Wal-Mart, has weighed in against the proposal, joining Darden which filed earlier objections questioning the need to devote already overburdened food safety resources to low-risk fish imports.
The CEO of Philippines-based Alliance Select Foods International issued an optimistic prediction that sales and profit would roughly double this year. Alliance is completing its third smoked salmon acquisition with the purchase of Spence & Co.
We need to correct and amplify yesterday's report on Russian pollock. The fishery cited was the Russian Bering Sea pollock fishery only, not the larger Sea of Okhotsk fishery and the estimated Russian Bering Sea pollock catch was 186,282 tons which was 64.57 per cent of the quota. Russia caught a much larger proportion of its allowable pollock quota in the Sea of Okhotsk.
Ken Coons, Associate Editor, Annapolis, Maryland
Seafood.com News 1-443-482-9420
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Ken Coons
Seafood.com
1-781-861-1441
kencoons@seafood.com