The Argentine Maritime Workers' Union, the Argentine Ship Officers' Union and the Chubut Province Food Industry Workers' Union jointly sent a letter on October 16 to Chubut Governor Ignacio Torres requesting an emergency hearing over the labor conflict with Agropez S.A., a company affiliated with the Conarpesa group, and warning that a prolonged dispute could affect the start of the next shrimp season in provincial waters.
Benchmark Genetics has launched the 2026 Emerging Species Genetics Competition, offering SNP chip development support for aquatic species that do not yet have genotyping tools. There are two award categories, and applications close at midnight Norwegian time on November 15.
Japan faces difficulties in procuring surimi raw materials compounded by historically high prices; the Japan Kamaboko Association issued a crisis declaration on October 15. Nikkei Suisan Keizai reports that pangasius surimi from Asian freshwater aquaculture is being viewed as a potential substitute raw material for Alaska pollock in kamaboko, chikuwa, and other surimi products.
Data from the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers shows that Vietnam's tilapia exports reached $90 million in the first 8 months of 2026, up 43% year-on-year, with exports to Brazil at $44 million, an increase of 22,142%.
Indonesia's Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) and the environmental organization Konservasi Indonesia are pushing to establish two large marine protected areas covering a combined area of more than 24 million hectares, located in the Banda Sea and the waters west of Sumatra.
Vietnam's seafood exports totaled US$7.94 billion in 8 months, with shrimp at US$3.29 billion accounting for about 41%; the four major markets of the US, China, the EU and Japan show diverging trends, and companies are turning to deep processing and branded products to seek higher unit prices.
On October 19, 2026, DNV announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Chilean aquaculture analytics company Aquabench, to support its continued growth and give customers access to more advanced solutions, tools and analytical capabilities.
Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representative Sarah Elfreth lead a letter to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission calling for stronger protections and a lower quota for Atlantic herring in Chesapeake Bay; the Herring Fishery Coalition counters that the latest assessment shows the stock is not overfished.
The Norwegian Seafood Council notes that UK consumers' interest in natural protein is rising, with searches for "natural protein" on the Ocado platform up 20% year-on-year, but the seafood industry still has room to improve in communicating protein and nutrition information.
The Mexican government has reduced the gillnet exclusion zone established to protect the critically endangered vaquita. Conservation groups say the new rules shrink the no-gillnet area by 86% compared with the original 2020 protection zone, while only 7 to 10 vaquitas remain in the wild.
Vietnam Fisheries Magazine reported on October 19, 2026 that, against a backdrop of volatile raw material prices, growing pressure to cut emissions and complex disease challenges, Vietnam's shrimp farming industry is shifting from "providing enough nutrition" to "precision nutrition." Dr. Tran Ngoc Thien Kim, Director of Nutrition and Aquaculture Business Support at De Heus Asia, introduced this trend and the company's phased product solutions.
IFFO data show global fishmeal output fell 49% year on year and fish oil 30% in the first 7 months of 2026, with Peru's first-season catch reaching only about 25% of its quota; at the 2026 Global Shrimp Forum, DSM-Firmenich projected that the supply-demand gap in marine ingredients for feed producers could reach 400,000 tonnes by 2028.
In a press release issued on October 19, AKVA Group said its Bergen marine engineering team has grown from 2 employees to 23 over the past decade, with the goal of building the leading marine engineering department in Norwegian aquaculture; its work now covers projects in Namibia, Scotland, Chile and Turkey, among others.
Argentina's Federal Fisheries Council (CFP) unanimously approved the maximum allowable catch for southern king crab (Lithodes santolla) in the Southern Area for the 2026-2027 season, totaling 1,161 tonnes across national waters, distributed between two management zones; a decrease of 9 tonnes compared with the final authorized value of the previous season.
An article published in Vietnam Fisheries Magazine on October 19 noted that while concentrating seafood exports in a few large markets can generate scale, when one market accounts for an excessive share and its demand specifications change abruptly, businesses and farming areas struggle to adjust in the short term. The cases of Khanh Hoa lobsters and 2023 lobster exports are cited as typical examples.
Norway's National 3R Centre is being established under the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, and EU Directive 2010/63/EU requires the replacement, reduction and refinement of animal experiments. The Ås campus, about 30 km south of Oslo, brings together NMBU, NVI and Nofima, and is working through projects including PETRI-FISH, CELLCRISP, GILLMODEL and BIO-DIRECT to study disease resistance using laboratory-cultured Atlantic salmon cells, reducing reliance on live-fish challenge trials.
Aquaculture investment firm Hatch Blue released the report "Unlocking Investment in U.S. Aquaculture: Barriers, Opportunities and Pathways Forward" in October 2026, identifying regulatory uncertainty, limited commercial scale and the lack of proven investment returns as the main barriers to U.S. aquaculture investment, while outlining opportunities in technology, shellfish, seaweed and some finfish farming.
The University of Los Lagos (ULagos) in Chile is advancing the commercialisation of turbot farming. Its Metri aquaculture centre in Puerto Montt currently produces about 500 kg per month, and the plan is to first supply 2 to 3 tonnes per year to Chilean seafood company Alimex, then raise output to about 30 tonnes within 3 to 5 years depending on demand.
Monthly statistics from the Norwegian Seafood Council show that in September 2026, 38.1% of Norway's fresh wild fish export volume went to Denmark, up 1 percentage point from the same period last year; among these, 50.2% of fresh haddock exports went to Denmark, and fresh monkfish reached as high as 86%.
The Argentine Maritime Workers' Union, the Argentine Ship Officers' Union and the Chubut Province Food Industry Workers' Union jointly sent a letter on October 16 to Chubut Governor Ignacio Torres requesting an emergency hearing over the labor conflict with Agropez S.A., a company affiliated with the Conarpesa group, and warning that a prolonged dispute could affect the start of the next shrimp season in provincial waters.
Benchmark Genetics has launched the 2026 Emerging Species Genetics Competition, offering SNP chip development support for aquatic species that do not yet have genotyping tools. There are two award categories, and applications close at midnight Norwegian time on November 15.
Japan faces difficulties in procuring surimi raw materials compounded by historically high prices; the Japan Kamaboko Association issued a crisis declaration on October 15. Nikkei Suisan Keizai reports that pangasius surimi from Asian freshwater aquaculture is being viewed as a potential substitute raw material for Alaska pollock in kamaboko, chikuwa, and other surimi products.
Data from the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers shows that Vietnam's tilapia exports reached $90 million in the first 8 months of 2026, up 43% year-on-year, with exports to Brazil at $44 million, an increase of 22,142%.
Indonesia's Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) and the environmental organization Konservasi Indonesia are pushing to establish two large marine protected areas covering a combined area of more than 24 million hectares, located in the Banda Sea and the waters west of Sumatra.
Vietnam's seafood exports totaled US$7.94 billion in 8 months, with shrimp at US$3.29 billion accounting for about 41%; the four major markets of the US, China, the EU and Japan show diverging trends, and companies are turning to deep processing and branded products to seek higher unit prices.
On October 19, 2026, DNV announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Chilean aquaculture analytics company Aquabench, to support its continued growth and give customers access to more advanced solutions, tools and analytical capabilities.
Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representative Sarah Elfreth lead a letter to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission calling for stronger protections and a lower quota for Atlantic herring in Chesapeake Bay; the Herring Fishery Coalition counters that the latest assessment shows the stock is not overfished.
The Norwegian Seafood Council notes that UK consumers' interest in natural protein is rising, with searches for "natural protein" on the Ocado platform up 20% year-on-year, but the seafood industry still has room to improve in communicating protein and nutrition information.
The Mexican government has reduced the gillnet exclusion zone established to protect the critically endangered vaquita. Conservation groups say the new rules shrink the no-gillnet area by 86% compared with the original 2020 protection zone, while only 7 to 10 vaquitas remain in the wild.
Vietnam Fisheries Magazine reported on October 19, 2026 that, against a backdrop of volatile raw material prices, growing pressure to cut emissions and complex disease challenges, Vietnam's shrimp farming industry is shifting from "providing enough nutrition" to "precision nutrition." Dr. Tran Ngoc Thien Kim, Director of Nutrition and Aquaculture Business Support at De Heus Asia, introduced this trend and the company's phased product solutions.
IFFO data show global fishmeal output fell 49% year on year and fish oil 30% in the first 7 months of 2026, with Peru's first-season catch reaching only about 25% of its quota; at the 2026 Global Shrimp Forum, DSM-Firmenich projected that the supply-demand gap in marine ingredients for feed producers could reach 400,000 tonnes by 2028.
In a press release issued on October 19, AKVA Group said its Bergen marine engineering team has grown from 2 employees to 23 over the past decade, with the goal of building the leading marine engineering department in Norwegian aquaculture; its work now covers projects in Namibia, Scotland, Chile and Turkey, among others.
Argentina's Federal Fisheries Council (CFP) unanimously approved the maximum allowable catch for southern king crab (Lithodes santolla) in the Southern Area for the 2026-2027 season, totaling 1,161 tonnes across national waters, distributed between two management zones; a decrease of 9 tonnes compared with the final authorized value of the previous season.
An article published in Vietnam Fisheries Magazine on October 19 noted that while concentrating seafood exports in a few large markets can generate scale, when one market accounts for an excessive share and its demand specifications change abruptly, businesses and farming areas struggle to adjust in the short term. The cases of Khanh Hoa lobsters and 2023 lobster exports are cited as typical examples.
Norway's National 3R Centre is being established under the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, and EU Directive 2010/63/EU requires the replacement, reduction and refinement of animal experiments. The Ås campus, about 30 km south of Oslo, brings together NMBU, NVI and Nofima, and is working through projects including PETRI-FISH, CELLCRISP, GILLMODEL and BIO-DIRECT to study disease resistance using laboratory-cultured Atlantic salmon cells, reducing reliance on live-fish challenge trials.
Aquaculture investment firm Hatch Blue released the report "Unlocking Investment in U.S. Aquaculture: Barriers, Opportunities and Pathways Forward" in October 2026, identifying regulatory uncertainty, limited commercial scale and the lack of proven investment returns as the main barriers to U.S. aquaculture investment, while outlining opportunities in technology, shellfish, seaweed and some finfish farming.
The University of Los Lagos (ULagos) in Chile is advancing the commercialisation of turbot farming. Its Metri aquaculture centre in Puerto Montt currently produces about 500 kg per month, and the plan is to first supply 2 to 3 tonnes per year to Chilean seafood company Alimex, then raise output to about 30 tonnes within 3 to 5 years depending on demand.
Monthly statistics from the Norwegian Seafood Council show that in September 2026, 38.1% of Norway's fresh wild fish export volume went to Denmark, up 1 percentage point from the same period last year; among these, 50.2% of fresh haddock exports went to Denmark, and fresh monkfish reached as high as 86%.
October is US National Seafood Month. Just Shrimp launches a new food holiday, Shrimpmas, Luke's Lobster highlights responsible sourcing, and the National Seafood Association (NSA) holds its seventh National Pescatarian Month.
