Early in March, Munich-based conglomerate Schorghuber Group canceled its plan to sell off its Chilean salmon farmer subsidiary Ventisqueros, citing tough global economic conditions.

Schorghuber Group said it tested the waters to determine whether the sale would meet senior executives' valuation of Ventisqueros, but determined that "macroeconomic changes have had a massive negative impact on financial markets and thus on the global M&A deal climate."

But a turnaround in M&A activity could be coming in the later half of the year, according to some analysts, and that would be music to the ears of of many executives, including those at Iceland Seafood International (ISI), which plans to try to revive is efforts to sell off the company's struggling UK operations before the end of the year.