Daily recap: Canada lobster dispute may turn ugly; Report exposes Indonesian forced labor

Here's a recap of the top daily seafood stories from Friday, Sept. 13:

• Canadian lobster leader warns of ‘explosion of violence’ in major fishery if minister doesn’t act soon

Tensions are building again between commercial fishers and First Nation harvesters in Canada's largest lobster fishery and -- unless fisheries minister Diane Lebouthillier acts soon -- something terrible is going to happen, warns Colin Sproul, president of the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance (UFCA), a non-profit alliance of fishing groups in Nova Scotia.

• New report exposes forced labor in Indonesia’s shrimp industry

A new report from three Indonesian NGOs -- Akatiga Center for Social Analysis, Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), and Migunani Research Institute -- has uncovered significant labor exploitation in Indonesia’s shrimp sector, which it attributes to unsustainable prices paid by major retailers in the US, UK and EU.

• Rabobank projects global soybean price crash as feed sector heads for record surplus

A record soybean surplus is expected in the next 12 months, likely to produce a sharp reduction in aquafeed prices, according to Rabobank's agri-commodity research managing director Carlos Mera.

• European investor snaps up Indian Ocean-based French seafood group

Reunimer-Pecherie du Sud, a major integrated producer and exporter of Indian Ocean seafood to France with an annual turnover of €70 million, has been acquired by a European private equity for an undisclosed sum.

• Harris Teeter, Publix to join in expansion of US seafood marketing campaign

Two major US retail grocery chains -- Harris Teeter Supermarkets and Publix Super Markets -- have agreed to join in on the US-wide "Fall in Love with Seafood" marketing campaign started by the Seafood Nutrition Partnership (SNP), SNP announced Sept. 12.

• UK supplier suffers loss in ‘challenging’ market for fish ‘n chips

UK fish and chip shop supplier T. Quality reported a loss of ￡829,143 ($1.09m) for the year ended Dec. 31, 2023, compared to a profit of ￡2.24m in 2022, according to the company's annual financial report.