One story that stole the headlines this week was Mowi Canada West's move to cull 925,000 juvenile salmon at its Big Tree Creek Hatchery and layoff employees as it works to shut down its Discovery Islands operations.
Mowi Canada West spokesperson Dean Dobrinsky told IntraFish Canada Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan's decision to close all existing netpen salmon farms in Discovery Islands by June of next year has left the company with no time to adjust its plans and will force Mowi to halt 30 percent of production.
Readers over the past week were also fascinated by the idea of 3D-printed salmon. Thanks to Austrian startup Revo Foods, which specializes in 3D food printing, that can be added to the list of new technologies that could reshape the future of the seafood industry.
Its 29-year-old founder and CEO, Robin Simsa, told IntraFish the company plans to launch its first 3D-printed creation, smoked salmon slices, into the German and European markets later this year. At this point, he said, the company is open to both foodservice and retail markets as targets.
Speaking of ideas that are upending the seafood industry, Editor-in-Chief Drew Cherry analyzed how Mowi and Leroy Seafoods are upending the land-based salmon farming frontier.
If indeed the two giants were to pursue salmon farming on land in any major way, it would completely change the landscape and make the current projects seem "cute" by comparison, Cherry wrote.
IntraFish's Digital Shrimp Forum featured a a panel of shrimp sector experts taking on some of the biggest issues facing the global shrimp farming industry.
The panel featured some of the shrimp industry's biggest names as well, including Tunyawat Kasemsuwan, Thai Union Global Innovation Director; Werner Jost, CEO at Camanor Productos Marinhos; Yahira Piedrahita, executive director at Ecuador’s national chamber of aquaculture; Willem van der Pijl, founder at Shrimp Insights; and Bill Hoenig, vice president of sales and operations at Delta Blue Aquaculture.
IntraFish reporter Dominic Welling's piece on how strong Icelandic cod harvests and weak foodservice demand are conspiring to pressure prices also was a top read.
From the first of the year through Feb. 15, the average price for ungutted fresh cod at Icelandic auctions is €2.08 ($2.50) per kilogram and €2.17 ($2.60) per kilo for gutted -- a 17 percent and 26 percent decline over the average price for 2020.
In a loss for the seafood industry, Eric Caslow, co-chairman of Acme Smoked Fish, died on Tuesday, Feb. 16 at age 75.
Caslow, who once led the company alongside brother Robert, was a part of the third generation of the family-owned business, which was established in 1906 by Caslow's grandfather, Harry Brownstein.
"Eric had the joy of leading the company alongside his brother Robert for decades, and he was deeply proud of Acme, his family and his colleagues," the company wrote.
