The year is well underway now and last week IntraFish was once more brimming with all the goings on in the seafood world.

Last week we took a look at what was being said at our third Women in Seafood Summit in San Diego, which, among other things, saw heavy hitter such as Trident, American Seafoods and Gorton's all highlight the value of diversity within the industry.

We accompanied this with a photo gallery from the event so all those who missed out could get a taster.

Out with the old in with the new

Last week IntraFish published two exclusive interviews with both veteran seafood executive Einar Wathne and the new Cargill Aqua Nutrition CEO Adriano Marcon as the official handover of the role took place.

But there were other shock changes among seafood executives last week as well with Iceland Seafood International (ISI) naming a new CEO.

IntraFish interviewed the outgoing Helgi Anton Eiriksson who said the decision to step down is right for both parties, and also the incoming Bjarni Armannsson, who said the company's new priority is on Southern Europe.

Over in Chile, Agrosuper completed its acquisition of AquaChile which ultimately saw industry stalwart Victor Hugo Puchi step down.

Speaking of acquisitions, later in the week, Blumar also announced plans to acquire Chilean coho producer Salmones Ice Val while – although not in Chile – Peruvian agro-giant Camposol also acquired shrimp farmer and exporter La Fragata during the week.

Maintaining bridges

Last week also the annual UK-Norwegian Seafood Summit in London, which yielded a range of stories both on Brexit implications for seafood between the two nations as well as top executives giving their suggestions on how to boost seafood consumption.

The Norwegian Minister of Fisheries, Harald Tom Nesvik, reassured delegates that Norway will reach a separate trade deal with UK regardless of the outcome of Brexit, and Ivan Bartolo, regulatory affairs advisor at UK trade body Seafish, outlined some ‘worst case' Brexit import tariff scenarios.

Additionally, Stuart Caborn, chief procurement officer at Young’s Seafood, called for stability in the value chain to ensure more sustainable and constant consumption levels and New England CEO, Dan Aherne gave his thoughts on how to make fish a ‘go-to’ food group.

In separate news, Young’s Seafood also announced plans to scrap 50 jobs at its dedicated Waitrose plant during the week, proposing to change from a two-shift structure to one shift.

Russia was busy again last week too, unveiling plans to boost the Alaska pollock market in Brazil, while at the same time, fishing giants Norebo and the Russian Fishery Company kept up with their plans to build more trawlers.

Meanwhile we noted how the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) labels are gaining more traction in European markets, and how, over in the United States, Norway is continuing to battle fake news in the salmon market.

But this was far from all the news last week, so sign up for our full list of Editor's Picks for more insight to start your week.