Twelve months makes for a lot of news, we look back at some of the key stories WeAreAquaculture covered throughout 2023.
Photo: Adobe Stock.
Does a whole year fit in one article? Obviously not, but they say that knowing the past allows us to understand the present and make the future better. So today, as 2023 is about to become the past and 2024 is no longer the future but the present, we take a look back at those stories that, month by month, captured our attention and that of the seafood, fisheries, and aquaculture industries during the year that is now coming to an end.
The Norwegian 'salmon tax' came into force on January 1, although it had not yet reached Parliament for approval.
In January, Norway was the country in the spotlight. The so-called 'salmon tax' came into force on January 1 but, until the end of the month, we did not know when it would reach the Storting for approval. Meanwhile, the Norwegian Seafood Council announced that 2022 had not only been a new record year for Norway's seafood exports but also the best-ever export year for Norwegian salmon, whose value exceeded NOK 100 billion for the first time in its history.
In February, aquaculture was banned in the Discovery Islands, British Columbia, Canada.
February started with a resounding "Hej!" from IKEA to the aquaculture industry. The Swedish furniture giant had decided to invest - through Ingka Investments, the investment wing of its parent company - EUR 30 million in the impact fund Ocean 14 Capital, focused exclusively on the "blue economy". Almost at the same time, we learned that Mowi had passed the EUR 1 billion earnings mark for the first time in its almost 60-year history. But just when everything seemed to be looking bright, to the disappointment of the sector in British Columbia, Canada decided to close all salmon farms in the Discovery Islands.
As every year, in March the industry gathered at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center to participate in Seafood Expo North America / Seafood Processing North America.
Boston was the meeting point for the global seafood industry in March. After COVID, Seafood Expo North America / Seafood Processing North America had already returned in 2022, but this 2023 getting back to normal made the difference. More than 1,141 exhibiting companies from 49 different countries took over the exhibition floor in SENA'23. Previously, earlier in the month, the news was on the other side of the Atlantic. There, we discovered the EU's ambitious sustainability and net zero by 2050 plan for fisheries and aquaculture. One piece of good news along with another that we never like to report: Scottish land-based halibut farm Gigha Halibut formally announced its closure after 15 years of operation.
View of the main entrance of the Fira de Barcelona on the second day of Seafood Expo Global/Seafood Processing Global 2023.
Barcelona was the focus of the seafood industry's attention in April. The Spanish city hosted the largest SEG in history. The 29th edition of Seafood Expo Global/Seafood Processing Global broke all records with a total of 2,078 exhibiting companies from 87 different countries, and the attendance of more than 34,000 professionals. On the exhibition floor, we could see Ohad Maiman and Thue Holm, who, earlier this month, launched their new company, AquaFounders Capital. Between both news, we learned Cooke and Abanca had reached an agreement to negotiate the exclusive purchase of 80% of Nueva Pescanova.
An aquaculture farm outside the town of Isafjordur, Iceland, in the Icelandic westfjords.
Developed by Intesal -SalmonChile's Salmon Technology Institute-, in May we learned about the new Salmon Science Plan, designed to contribute to the sustainability of the sector in the South American country. Just a few days later, we reported the launch of Iceland Aquaculture & Oceans Forum (IAOF), an industry association that brings together ten leading companies with the main objective of supporting sustainable aquaculture. Sustainability too, but also regeneration, collaboration, and communication on blue food were topics discussed at the 'Blue Food Innovation Summit', an event that mingled start-ups and investors in two days of intense discussions in London.
Alaska aquaculture in practice — seaweed farming in Doyle Bay, Alaska, with Seagrove Kelp Company.
June ended with Seagriculture EU 2023 in Trondheim, Norway, where industry professionals, researchers, and policymakers underscored the growing recognition of seaweed as a vital component of a sustainable future. Shortly before, we had learned that NOAA would be working to identify new Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs) in Alaska considering only seewed and marine invertebrates, as finfish farming is prohibited by law in the waters of this U.S. state. Seaweed may also be one of the keys to flexibility in the use of marine ingredients for feed formulations the leading aquafeed companies told us about when we asked them about Peru's anchovy shortage.
eFishery founder and CEO Gibran Huzaifah pictured with Aqua-Spark's Amy Novogratz. eFishery is one of the companies on Aqua-Spark's investment portfolio.
Although the data was from the previous month, July started with some very worrying news. June had seen the highest sea temperatures since records began. However, the big story of July came from Indonesia, with the news that aquaculture startup eFishery officially reached a valuation of US USD 1.4 billion and secured USD 200 million in Series D funding, making it a rare aquaculture "unicorn". Hope was making its way and advanced even further when we learned Urchinomics had appointed a new CEO so the founder could continue "working his magic." From that moment on, Brian Tsuyoshi Takeda was free - and funded - to devote more time to restoring the health of the oceans with the backing of the Chair and investors.
Eleanor "Ellie" Lawrie, Mowi Scotland's first female skipper.
Starting August, we learned Mowi Scotland's first female skipper was on board. Ellie Lawrie had just completed her first shift as skipper on the Ailsa Craig, the workboat where, the previous year, she also became the company's first female deckhand. Just a few days earlier, Aqua-Spark released its 2022 Impact Report and, commenting on it, co-founder Amy Novogratz told WeAreAquaculture that more sustainable production can also bring comparable or even better returns than traditional industry. August was also the month of the settlement of our 'Female Founders' series, where we follow the stories of inspiring women who have founded start-ups in the blue food and aquaculture space.
NOAA's GOES-16 satellite captured Hurricane Idalia approaching the western coast of Florida while Hurricane Franklin churned in the Atlantic Ocean.
As September began, the Florida aquaculture industry was taking stock of the damage caused by Hurricane Idalia. WeAreAquaculture spoke to Josh Neese, CEO of the Florida Oyster Trading Company, to find out more about the impact of extreme weather on the sector. We also spoke with Arctic Fish CEO Stein Ove Tveiten following news about Iceland Police opening an investigation into fish escaping from one of their sites. Almost at the end of the month, the good news finally arrived with the signing of the so-called "High Seas" treaty, officially known as Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdictions (BBNJ), ratified by 67 countries at the UN headquarters in New York.
Crab fishermen of the Alaskan F/V Artic Lady working in the sea.
The beginning of October saw some news that we are sure to read about again in the coming years. We reported the reopening of Bristol Bay red king crab season after two years of closure, but problems continue despite this economic relief, and so will news. We also wrote about the EU Algae Awareness Summit, held in Paris to stimulate the development of the algae sector in the European Union. It was the first edition and more are sure to come. Finally, we learned about the draft of Iceland's new fish farming policy, which proposes a reasonable fee for the industry. It was just the first step in a pipeline that we will surely be talking about in 2024.
Iceland declared a state of emergency and evacuated the Grindavík population due to a likely Fagradasfjall volcanic eruption. Pictured: Fagradsfjall volcano.
Seismic activity shook Iceland in November. Most of Icelandic land-based salmon farmers were unaffected but Matorka - the land-based arctic char farm - did suffer earthquake damage. WeAreAquaculture spoke with CEO Christo du Plessis to learn about the situation firsthand. He told us that, fortunately, all staff living in Grindavík were safely evacuated and the company managed to save the vast majority of the fish in their facility. Meanwhile, in the European Union "flatlined", "stagnating" or "at a standstill" were some of the alarming descriptions applied in a report by the EU Court of Auditors (ECA) to the state of aquaculture in the EU. In response, European fish farmers call for a Common Aquaculture Policy.
KfW and Aqua-Spark teams. Germany, through its governmental development bank, KfW, is the first contributor to Aqua-Spark Africa, a found especially dedicated to catalyzing sustainable aquaculture in this continent.
We were waiting for news of Aqua-Spark Africa and, although its first close will not be until early 2024, in December we learned Aqua-Spark's subsidiary fund for the African continent had started to make waves with the announcement of a whole country, Germany, as its first contributor. Meanwhile, Indonesian 'unicorn' eFishery - another one of Aqua-Spark's portfolio companies - successfully concluded its first commercial pilot in India. The latest good news on investments in sustainable aquaculture came from Iceland's GeoSalmo, announcing that it now had the financing to start construction of its state-of-the-art hybrid flow-through salmon farm.