Friday, Oct. 11, 12 p.m. CET
Russian pollock MSC certification resistance 'driven by market competition'
The resistance Russia's Sea of Okhotsk pollock fishery met in getting MSC-certified is more due to market competition than genuine biological concerns, said Vladimir Belyaev from the Russian embassy in Denmark.
Belyaev expressed his opinion to IntraFish during a meeting of the Baltic Sea Regional Advisory Council in the Aalborg Congress & Culture Center where Danfish is being held.
"We are collecting data on accidents among industrial fishermen in the Baltic Sea right now," said Dr Leonid Meyler from the Baltic Fishing Fleet State Academy in Kaliningrad, Russia. "This will feed mathematical models of risk management."
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Friday, Oct. 11, 10.30 a.m. CET
Those are some BIG trawl doors
Trawl door manufacturer Injector Door has an order for its largest doors to date, a company representative told IntraFish.
The pair of Cobra trawl doors will be delivered in February next year to Danish trawler Ruth, Eystein Elttør, sales manager at the company, said.
Designed for a high spread, Ruth will be towing the 22 square meters doors during next year's sandeel season. The doors weigh only 7,200 kg and are being made in Lithuania.
"These are light doors -- they want good spread in shallow waters." Elttør said. "Big doors are usually used in this fishery."
-- Quentin Bates
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Friday, Oct. 11, 9.30 a.m. CET
What ties Starbucks, Heineken, and aquaculture?
The answer is NYSE-listed American giant Pentair, which counts Starbucks, Heineken and McDonald's as its clients.
Pentair -- a $8 billion (€5.9 billion) turnover company -- moved into the aquaculture sector one and a half years ago, Jeffrey Sanchez, director of sales and marketing at Pentair Aquatic Systems, told IntraFish.
"Aquaculture is a growing sector, and we are looking to expand our presence in Europe and South Africa currently," Sanchez said. "We already have a strong presence in the Middle East and elsewhere."
Pentair is a diversified company that deals with "anything to do with moving, filtering, and treating water," Sanchez said.
"We are the ones who built the huge pumps that drew out the ocean water in New Orleans after the hurricane struck," he told IntraFish.
The aquaculture side of the company is relatively small sized, with a$100 million (€73.9 million) turnover, but one that is growing fast.
The company builds RAS equipment, and is also into aquaponics, with a facility in St. Paul in Minnesota, called the Hamm's Brewery Project with Urban Organics, where each shelf grows as much vegetables that could be produced in an acre of land, Sanchez said.
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Friday, Oct. 11, 9 a.m. CET
Cod prices pick up
Jes Holm Sorensen of the Hanstholm fish auction told IntraFish that cod prices were low for the first half of this year but have now picked up and are around DKK 40 (€5.40/$7.30) for sizes 1 and 2, while smaller size 3 and 4 fish are fetching around DKK 30 (€4/$5.40) per kilo.
For the first half of the year prices had been at less than half of their usual level for the larger grades of cod.
"There has been so much fish from Norway and as soon as their season ended, we saw process start to rise and are now fairly stable at a normal level," he said.
"It's tough on the fishermen, as they have a quota for the whole year and they have to go fishing. They can't stop fishing and wait for higher prices."
-- Quentin Bates
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Thursday, Oct. 10, 3 p.m. CET
Europe's largest marketplace for fresh fish is online
No more getting up in the middle of the night, groggily going into a fish auction before the crack of dawn in order to bag the fish you require.
Pefa.com, an online platform that connects fisg auctions across Europe, has been going from strength to strength since 2007, Gijsbert Spek of the company told IntraFish.
"Buyers can buy fish centrally and at multiple auctions simultaneously, sitting behind a computer,"Spek said.
Suppliers of 13 member auctions in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy have access to a large market due to the electronic sales system, he said.
"The buyers have a multiple choice -- the auctioners say they want the best price for fishermen, and for that, we need competition."
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Thursday, Oct. 10, 1.20 p.m. CET
Riga Shipyard is floating boats
The distinctive red coloring of Riga Shipyard's stand drew many curious show participants, among them IntraFish.
The shipyard is doing well in building hulls for fishing vessels, said Gennady Slyozkin, shipbuilding department manager at the yard.
Riga Shipyard delivered a Danish purse seiner Sulebas in September this year, and a similar boat will e delivered next year as well, Slyozkin said.
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Thursday, Oct. 10, 12.30 p.m. CET
Israeli aqua systems company going strong
Yoav Dagan, vice president of Israeli aquaculture systems company AquaMaof Aquaculture Technologies, was brimming with positivity at the Danfish show.
"The company has been doing very well," Dagan told IntraFish.
"We have new facilities in the United States, Nigeria and Ghana. The Nigerian company farms tilapia, catfish and stripe bass, and the American company farms red drum."
AquaMaof also has a big salmon project going in northern China, Dagan said.
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Thursday, Oct. 10, 11.45 a.m. CET
'Misleading article'
Eystein Elttør, sales manager at Faroese company Injector Door, is not a happy man.
He was fuming about a ''misleading article'' in the Norwegian magazine Kyst.
The caption under the picture said the Injector door was made in China, but Elttør joked the door was so old it was probably made in Denmark.
"Why did they not use a new picture of our new blue doors? Truth is, a trawl door looks nice only when it is new."
The Faroese gave further evidence of his frankness when IntraFish commented that a South Korean door making company, BMI International, had a stand just opposite theirs.
"Oh, the copy machines," he said. "We sold them a Scorpion door [one of Injector Door's different door types], and they just copied it."
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Thursday, Oct. 10, 11 a.m. CET
Innovative selectivity system for trawl gear
Danish fisherman Karsten Hjelm -- skipper of Alaska trawler Cape Horn -- also runs Danish fishing gear company Greenline, which has developed an innovative selectivity system for trawl gear.
Greenline's selectivity system has been tested extensively at sea, and 250 towing hours have demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing by catches is flat fish fisheries.
Other US operators are also investing in this flexible system, Karsten Hjelm told IntraFish.
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Thursday, Oct. 10, 10.30 a.m. CET
American foresight for Euronete
The acquisition of fishing netting and rope manufacturer Koninklijke (Royal) Lankhorst Euronete Group by American company WireCo WorldGroup last year is yielding positive results for the European brand already.
"We are American now," announced Bondie Sciarone, sales director at Euronete. "We have the backing of a huge R&D department, and the Americans want us to think forward, not just to 2014, but try to imagine where we should be in 2018."
Headquartered in the Netherlands, Euronete employs over 1,300 people worldwide and operates manufacturing facilities in Portugal, Brazil and the Netherlands. It is the largest trawl netting manufacturer in the world.
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Wednesday, Oct. 9, 3 p.m. CET
New hauler for Norwegian market
Icelandic deck equipment manufacturer Beitir have introduced a new hydraulic hauler for traps especially for the Norwegian crab fishery, specifically for small boats.
"They have a 600kg pulling power, to cope with depths of 200 fathoms," said Hafsteinn Olafsson of Beitir.
"We have had good results from testing in Norway."
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Wednesday, Oct. 9, 3 p.m. CET
Herring glut puts downward pressure on prices
A glut of summer herring has pulled down prices for European processors, industry players told IntraFish.
"It has been a good year, with a lot of herring this summer," Henning Jensen, purchasing manager at Danish pelagic processor Skagerak.
"The prices were high and stable for half of 2013, but they have been falling since," he said. "There is a lot of herring in the market."
"The herring market is slow -- a lot of small herring in the market," Chris Anderson, managing director of Scottish pelagic processor Fresh Catch said.
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Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2.30 p.m. CET
Don't break a sweat
A colorful stand showcasing protective clothing manned by cheerful people -- IntraFish stopped to say hello to Guy Cotten, a Brittany, France, based company famed for making breathable oilskins.
"It's a big technical achievement," said Jacques Beuze at Guy Cotten. "PVC clothing can get really uncomfortable due to condensation, but our range is lighter and comfortable -- we are getting positive feedback from fishermen from the United States, British Isles, Norway."
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Wednesday, Oct. 9, 12.40 p.m. CET
'Wrong to sanction one and not the other'
Scottish pelagic processor Fresh Catch minced no words in applauding the EU sanctions on the Faroe Islands.
"They should have been sanctioned earlier," said MD Chris Anderson. "We should sanction Iceland as well -- it's wrong to sanction one and not the other," Anderson commented on the long standing dispute between the EU and Iceland about shared mackerel stocks.
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Wednesday, Oct. 9, 12.10 p.m. CET
Keeping the predators out
Indian manufacturer Garware-Wall Ropes have two new products in the market.
Star Cages, aquaculture cages under trials in Canada, Iceland and Norway; and anti-predator nets Sapphire Ultra Core, which are already being used in Scotland and Canada.
"We work in close coordination with our clients, and have a large R&D team," said Amit Kulkarni, product manager.
"Fish escapes have reduced dramatically after using Sapphire Ultra Core. It forms a sort of a wall, not allowing the predators to reach the fish.
Sapphire Ultra Core is made of polymers and a mixed dual metal and resin core.
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Wednesday, Oct. 9, 11.45 a.m. CET
A family concern
A Dutch rope and netting manufacturer, van Beelen, is being steered by a fourth generation family member, trained as an aerospace engineer, no less.
Caroline van Beelen owns the company along with her father, and was the most patient is explaining the nitty-gritty of rope making to IntraFish.
"Our aquaculture section, still a small part of the overall business, grew by 50 percent this year," van Beelen said.
Anti-predator netting made of Dyneema is in demand, she said, going to Tasmania and Port Lincoln in Australia.
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Wednesday, Oct. 9, 11.15 a.m. CET
Dyneema power
Warps made of Dyneema might be 2.5 to 3 times more expensive than those made out of steel wire, but has been selling like hot cakes despite its premium tag.
The reason? "It is much lighter, and lasts more than three times longer," said Leif Lykke, sales manager at Cosmos Trawl.
"It is cheaper long in the long term."
Cosmos Trawl's latest client to buy Dyneema warp is the Swedish-owned Danish boat Stella Nova.
Stella Nova landed herring in Hirtshals yesterday, and is now fishing for brisling in the Baltic now.
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Wednesday, Oct. 9, 10.50 a.m. CET
A medal for 50 years of service
Danish gear maker Cosmos Trawl is awarding a long-timer at the company for completing 50 years at the company.
"Finn Larsen retired this year, completing nearly 50 years at the company as a sales personnel and the main purse-seine designer," said Haraldur Arnason, general manager of Cosmos Trawl.
"His son Flemming Larsen has been at the company for 25 years, and is in many ways taking his father's place," he said.
"With overtime, Flemming might have reached 50 years of service himself!" another employee quipped.
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Wednesday, Oct. 9, 10.30 a.m. CET
Taking over the mantle
When engine manufacturing giant Wärtsilä exited the fishing shipyard business last year, closing a shipyard in Norway, its Danish operations were taken over by Hirtshals Yard, led by engineers Rasmus Brohus and Jesper Reinholt.
"It's been a good start, but the challenge isn't to repair ships, but to run a company," Jesper Reinholt told IntraFish.
September and October are slow months, and the company expects big orders by next month. "We are doing small repairs on local boats right now.
"We have a covered dock, a big advantage during winter months," Reinholt said.
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Wednesday, Oct. 9, 10.10 a.m. CET
An international mix
The stands were still being set up at what many term the best northern European fishing show when IntraFish did a recce of the exhibition halls this morning.
The atmospheric Danish town of Aalborg has hosted the show for many years now, a perfect base for the Nordic fishing industry which often leads in industry innovation, product development and R&D.
"All the right people come here," a show participant told IntraFish. "Clients from all over the world -- skippers, fishing and aquaculture companies etc."
Here is to an interesting three days of reporting from the tip of Denmark.
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