Sometimes a story comes along that ignites a fire, and last week that story was the breaking news that US retail giant Costco is to restructure its massive $40-50 million Kirkland-branded smoked salmon contract.

Another ongoing burner was the backlash against clothing company Patagonia's salmon farming attack and last week IntraFish published two letters addressing some of the "misinformation" in the company's "Artifishal" video. In an impassioned response, Tony Chen, CEO of Bergen, Norway-based sea lice monitoring start-up company Manolin wrote that "banning net pen salmon farming will remove the most innovative segment of aquaculture and only stiffen the world’s ability to utilize the oceans sustainably.

Global Aquaculture Alliance Communications Manager Steven Hedlund also felt moved to respond in an open letter claiming "Patagonia has mastered the art of taking a controversial environmental and/or social stand and backing it with savvy marketing."

Juxtaposing Patagonia's stance IntraFish's interview with Mowi's newly appointed chief sustainability officer highlighted why the world's biggest salmon producer was elevating the issue of sustainability to its board and drilled down on some of the company's key development priorities in the field.

Fishmeal was also talk of the town with the previous week's news that Peru's north-central anchovy quota, the most important single source of fishmeal in the world, would be slashed by nearly 40 percent prompting rapid price hikes and longer term predictions about the effect it would have on the sector from top seafood analysts at Dutch financial giant Rabobank.

Rabobank also released a new report last week, citing global trade tensions among a number of factors with the potential to reshape global seafood trade in the years ahead.

In light of another highly anticipated study, Reporter Rachel Sapin spoke to experts on the light being shed on hatchery-origin and wild fish interactions in Alaska, and the wide-ranging implications for the state's salmon fishery and its MSC-certified status.

Also on Sapin's North America beat, Nordic Aquafarms CEO told IntraFish how "a few unhappy people" are delaying the company's land-based salmon farm. But "NIMBY" concerns in its northerly neighbor are doing nothing to halt progress in Chile where investors are sinking $50 million into a land-based salmon venture that aims to produce 4,000 metric tons of salmon in its first phase, raising that to 24,000 metric tons after three years.

But salmon production is not the only sector ramping up: In an exclusive insight last week Senior Reporter Lola Navarro spoke to several global sources about the unfavorable effects of the shrimp industry's growth and asked if vannamei prices had hit rock bottom.

But these were just some of the highlights of another busy week in seafood, so sign up to our Editor's Picks newsletter to make sure you stay abreast.