As a product, tilapia ticks many boxes. It is available in large volumes; it’s mild in flavor and easy to cook; it freezes and defrosts well; and it’s very affordable. From a production perspective, the fish is sustainably farmed using little, if any, marine feeds; and it’s a very fast growing and resilient species.

Let’s hope the new year can bring some major positive changes to the troubled U.S. canned tuna market because 2012 saw its imports shrink momentously by a whopping one quarter. The devastating blow to exporters came as American tuna brands struggled to stay afloat amid record high raw material costs, declining consumer demand and the continued negative publicity on mercury and tuna.

Exorbitant demand for fish in China is becoming threat to Japan's skipjack fisheries, and fish consumption. China now consumes 4 times the amount of seafood as Japan, and Chinese consumption is growing at more than 10% a year.

A recent analysis of seafood markets in France, Spain and Italy, undertaken by Correard Consulting for Seafood Scotland, showed some marked differences in the way the economic downturn has affected the seafood industries in France, Spain and Italy and impacted on sales strategies.

The US remained Vietnam’s top seafood market in January although it has raised a number of trade barriers against the country’s exports, according to the General Department of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Global feed experts agree there is more growth to come in the aquaculture feed sector due to the availability of protein substitutes

The Thai tuna industry faced a hefty 19% drop in its skipjack tuna supply last year, but its imports of both raw albacore and yellowfin tuna spiked to four-year record highs.

The value of exports of pelagic fish in 2012 totalled NOK 7.5 billion (EUR 1 billion), down by NOK 1.1 billion (EUR 148.4 million) from the previous year. This is despite 2012 being the second best year ever for exports of Norwegian herring, mackerel, capelin and other pelagic species.

NOAA has announced changes to the 2013 Atlantic mackerel, squid and butterfish fisheries effective January 16 through December 31 of this year.

Fish prices in India have shot up by 10% to 30% in the last one year and there is no sign of cooling off in prices as domestic demand is increasing at a pace that outstrips supply.

Russian fishermen have caught 94,400 tonnes of fish since the start of 2013, down 16.5% compared to the same period of 2012, the Federal Fisheries Agency Rosrybolovstvo reported.

(vasep.com.vn) In 2012, Vietnam seafood was exported to 156 markets with total export turnover of US$6.13 billion, equating to the level of 2011. Top 10 largest importers of Vietnam seafood were the U.S., EU, Japan, South Korea, China, ASEAN, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Russia, representing about 85 percent of Vietnam seafood’s total export value.

Vietnamese seafood producers are prepared to embark on a long battle against a US Department of Commerce anti-subsidy investigation to see whether the country and six others have been engaged in unfair trade practices.

Indonesian Fishery and Marine Ministry forecast fishery exports will rise to 5 billion U.S. dollars this year from 3.28 billion U.S. dollars last year despite slowing global economy, an official said here Wednesday.

(vasep.com.vn) In 2012, Vietnam tuna sales to markets marked at US$569.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 50.1 percent. Vietnam’s tuna products was shipped to 96 spots on the world in which the U.S. remained as the largest consumer with a proportion of over 40 percent out of the country’s total tuna export value.