Hello folks -- Lots of big people moves over the past week.
The biggest broke this morning with the announcement that John Connelly, president of North American seafood trade group the National Fisheries Institute, will be stepping down after 20 years.
Connelly made a significant impact over his time. You can look back on his career here.
The other headline moves were Royal Greenland's CEO, who is departing the group after 11 years, and a new CEO at Russian Fishery Company, adding one more female top executive to the industry.
Several other hires and fires took place -- you can find those here.
We rolled out two in-depth pieces on M&A in seafood. First was a ranking of the shocking number of major deals in 2021. A second looked into one of the overlooked growth sectors in aquaculture.
Ups and downs
The UK seafood industry is facing challenging times. First, staffing shortages are continuing to take a toll on the industry as the ripple effects of Brexit take hold and clash with the omicron spike.
Strong demand during Lent and reduced supply from Chile will likely push up farmed salmon prices in the United States early in the year. Here's what market-watchers have to say.
China continues to be a tough nut for Western companies to crack. We looked back at Mowi's ambitious plans to open 2,000 salmon-themed restaurants in China. Spoiler alert: It didn't go as planned.
Supply chains
In some rare positive supply chain news, air freight rates for salmon flown from Chile to the US market have come down from their peak at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
However, the news on shipping is overwhelmingly grim. Seafood supply chains in Asia, which have so far shown impressive resilience, could be put under intolerable strain from the omicron COVID-19 variant. Sources explained why.
The global container shipping crisis also continues to affect fishmeal prices. But not as much, perhaps, as pigs.
In more supply chain snafus, Russia's pollock "A" season, which kicked off at the beginning of January, is likely to have volumes restrained once again by pandemic-related restrictions on seafood exports to China.
The shows must go on (for some)
It's showtime, at least in the United States, beginning with the National Fisheries Institute's Global Seafood Marketing Conference this week.
The event coincides with the omicron variant surge, prompting Executive Editor John Fiorillo to ask if the industry was risking a "super spreader" incident. Let's hope not.
The prospect of meeting up in person again is an exciting one after nearly two years of mostly being apart from industry colleagues. But not everyone is ready.
Alaska seafood processor Peter Pan Seafood announced last week it is pulling out of the March Seafood Expo North America (SENA) trade show in Boston, a decision was followed quickly by two other major departures: salmon farmers Mowi and Cermaq.
Canada's High Liner Foods was the latest to announce it would not exhibit.
Trade shows aren't going away, but I argued that they may not be the industry-defining events they once were. Fiorillo and I debated on last week's podcast, which you can listen to directly on our page, or by signing up to podcasts on Apple or Google Play.
Rough week
Finally, salmon farmer Mowi has a string of not-so-great news throughout the week: First, losses in Eastern Canada ended up higher than first thought. Second, it announced it would permanently close a value-added salmon processing plant near Vancouver. The company wasn't shy about pointing fingers.
Keep up with us
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And if you have any feedback, tips or story ideas, drop me a line, or you can reach the IntraFish editorial team here.
Have a great week ahead.