Daily recap, Feb. 24: Indian Ocean tuna showdown coming; High Liner’s strong finish to pandemic-hit 2020

Here's a recap of the daily seafood news from Wednesday, Feb. 24.

With the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission holding a special session next month to address the yellowfin overfishing issue, Undercurrent News' Matilde Mereghetti turned in an excellent piece on Wednesday with the major issues at hand. 

But getting parties to agree on a new measure will be challenging as nobody wants to take the bigger cut or accept any reduction. 

Click here to read Matilde's piece in full. 

• High Liner finishes pandemic-challenged year much better than it started

High Liner Foods, one of the largest value-added whitefish processors in North America, posted positive Q4 earnings results on Wednesday. The company's financials might have been punched in the nose by the coronavirus pandemic at the start of 2020, but High Liner finished better than it started, with bigger margins on fewer sales, Jason Huffman reported. Click here for the full story. 

• Tradex makes major retail push with US-caught, processed product line

Canada's Tradex Foods is another North American seafood firm looking to pivot with the impact of the pandemic. When foodservice-focused Tradex saw change coming it looked to sell fish caught and processed in the US, Jason Smith reported. Click here for the full story. 

• Ecuador’s shrimp production expected to grow, diversify further in 2021

Last week, Undercurrent held a webinar on the outlook for shrimp production and prices in 2021, which you can re-watch here. Gabriel Luna, Ecuadorian shrimp farmer, and owner of GLuna Shrimp, spoke on the situation for his home country. Click here for the full outlook, which Undercurrent's Maria Feijoo covered. 

• AquaBounty sends out GE salmon samples, plans for April harvest

US-based AquaBounty Technologies is preparing for the world's first harvest of genetically engineered salmon, which is slated to occur in late March, early April, Jason Smith reported on Wednesday. Click here for the full story. 

• Mowi begins cull of Canadian salmon, urges minister to reconsider farm closures

Norwegian salmon farming giant Mowi has begun laying off staff and culling juvenile fish at its British Columbia (BC), Canada division, it confirmed to Undercurrent's Neil Ramsden. Click here for the full story. 

• Fish processing equipment makers Baader, Skaginn complete merger

Lastly, Nordischer Maschinenbau Rudolf Baader, the German manufacturer of fish and other food processing equipment better known as Baader, and Iceland's Skaginn 3X have officially completed their merger. Click here for the full story.