(vasep.com.vn) According to National Agro Forestry Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD), Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) will send a delegation to Vietnam by the middle of February 2012 for inspecting some dried seasoned leather jacket processing plants which exported their products to South Korea.

(vasep.com.vn) From the middle of 2009 up to now, the U.S. has surpassed EU to become the largest export market for Vietnam tuna. According to General Department of Viet Nam Customs, export value of Vietnam tuna to the U.S. last year reached US$171.37 million, representing a 31.8 percent increase against 2010. The U.S. was the only market remaining two digit growth in importing Vietnam tuna in 2011.

(pangasius-vietnam.com) In February 6th 2012, Mr. Duong Ngoc Minh - Deputy Chairman of Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said, VASEP has recommended Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to solve two main problems of Vietnam pangasius sector which are limited credit and lack of seed.

(TheFishSite) The Deputy Head of the Rosselkhoznadzor, Yevgeny Nepoklonov, has sent a letter to the Administrative Director of the State Service for Plant, Fish, Animal and Food Surveillance to report futher harmful substances and bacteria found in fisheries products from Norway.

(IntraFish) Tuna exports have declined up to 70 percent over the past two weeks, reports the Jakarta Post.

(seafood.com) A key report on the future of European fisheries markets will call on the European Commission to establish a new higher standard for eco-labelling across all fisheries products sold in the EU.

(IntraFish) The spiraling cost of fuel and the purse seine fishing ban in two major pockets of the Pacific Ocean have cut down frozen tuna landings at the General Santos fish port complex last year, according to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) in The Philippines.

(Seafood.com) After first protesting against the agreement between the EU and Papua New Guinea in regard to the favorable zero duty import tariff for canned tuna and precooked loins, the Spanish tuna processing plants, mostly based in Galicia, now intend to ensure their future supply of the same tuna loins “with the right quantity, quality and price conditions”.

(TheFishSite) Companies that want to trade/process ASC-certified seafood products will need to be chain-of-custody certified. ASC has now opened accreditation for certifiers. Once accredited, those certifiers can be contracted by traders/processors choosing to trade ASC-certified products.

(seafood.com) The use of probiotic bacteria, isolated from naturally-occurring bacterial communities, is gaining in popularity in the aquaculture industry as the preferred, environmentally-friendly management alternative to the use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials for disease prevention. Known to the public for their use in yogurt and other foods to improve human digestion and health, probiotic bacteria isolated from other sources can also be used to improve survival, nutrition and disease prevention in larvae grown in shellfish hatcheries.