The Scottish Salmon Producers' Organisation (SSPO) has announced that they experienced a 24% increase in exported fish compared with 2008 with more than 13 million farmed salmon exported from Scotland last year.

THE official inquiry into the deaths of three fishermen who died in a Scottish trawler fire 18 months ago is to take place this summer, it was announced yesterday.

A BRITISH-Icelandic fish company which turns fish heads into food for Third World countries is to receive a 1.4 million Canadian dollar boost from the Nova Scotia state government. JHS Fish Products Canada Ltd is an offshoot of a UK operation of the same name which opened a £2.5 million factory in Grimsby three years ago. The company also has plants in Iceland where it has its head office.

SALMON producer Loch Duart has added a new ingredient to the diet of its farmed fish as part of its bid to replicate, as far as possible, the diet of wild salmon – and in so doing achieve a similar flesh colour.

An innovative new device that could help save fishermen’s lives by warning of vessel instability is likely to provide a focal point of interest at this year’s Fishing 2010 exhibition in Glasgow.

YOUNG'S Fish for Life programme for sustainable seafood has received a major triumph by being named as one of 11 UK winners in the prestigious European Business Awards for the Environment It was the only food industry business and certainly tyhe only food - amongst the finalists.

PIRATES who have been menacing European and other fishing boats in the Indian Ocean suffered a major setback yesterday.

THE Pew Environment Group has praised the United Kingdom for taking one further step towards designating the world’s largest marine reserve.

A Euro MP has called for the £40million of dead fish Scots fishermen are forced to dump at sea to be turned into animal ‘super food’.

CHILE has started the long job of rebuilding its shattered fishing industry following the devastating earthquake nearly two weeks ago.

THE UK government was today begged by campaigners to end its careless approach to buying seafood.

AT Question Time in the Scottish Parliament last week, Orkney MSP, Liam McArthur, asked the Fisheries Minister, Richard Lochhead, what progress had been made in the review of the West of Scotland catch composition rules which are causing real problems for Orkney and other Scottish whitefish boats.

THE search is under way to find the 2010 Young Scottish Seafood Chef Of The Year.

THE administrators handling the affairs of the Five Star Fish company are thought to have received a number of preliminary inquiries about buying the business, it was disclosed last night. But so far there have been no firm offers.

THE Faroe Islands has expressed its disappointment at Canada's "heavy handed" decision to close its fishing ports to Danish flagged trawlers in a continuing dispute over fish quotas and territorial claims.The ban mainly affects boats from the Faroes and Greenland which, although partly independent, fly the Danish flag because Copenhagen looks after their defence and foreign policy interests.

A REPORT on trials to reduce cod by-catches in Shetland mixed demersal whitefish trawl fisheries by putting large meshes (300 and 600mm) in the front portion of a commercial trawl has been published by Marine Scotland.

AF DECOM Offshore UK Limited and Lerwick Port Authority, Shetland have announced that they are to develop a deep water decommissioning base.

THE British Seafood crisis plunged the fishing town of Grimsby into further gloom last night with the announcement that Five Star Fish, the group's "star" performer was also in administration.

ICELAND'S capelin fishing season - a big money earner for the industry and the economy - is in full swing with the pelagic fleets working flat out to bring home catches.

THE shock waves from the collapse of the British Seafood Group are being felt well beyond the fish processing industry, it emerged at the weekend.

THE National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations has said the introduction of the new Omega electronic net gauge has been seriously mishandled, with mounting concerns among its member whether it is fit for purpose.

THE skipper of a Devon scallop fishing boat has been ordered to pay over £2,000 after he admitted fishing in a prohibited area.

Following the statement from European Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki during Thursday's debate in the European Parliament on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy that the protection of local fisheries will be a keystone of the new CFP, Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said: 'The issue of international tradable quotas has been on the agenda during this debate in the European Parliament and we therefore welcome this statement from the Commissioner of the need to protect local fisheries.

Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and fish feed has announced that Mrs Anja van Bergen-van Kruijsbergen (49) is appointed Company Secretary and Legal Director.

Leaders from eight Pacific Island nations whose waters provide a quarter of the world's tuna announced plans on Thursday to form a regional tuna cartel to increase their share of the profits from the lucrative fish.

THE first significant step towards reforming the Common Fisheries Policy came yesterday when the European Parliament voted for a major overhaul of most of its policies including a demand to an end of management from Brussels. MEPs also call for the creation of a strong aquaculture sector and an eco-labelling system.

IRELAND'S Fisheries Minister Tony Killeen has outlined his country's proposals for reform of the Common Fisheries Policy with some pointed proposals.

THOUSANDS of fishermen from across the United States converged on the capital Washington yesterday in a mass protest over the way the industry is being treated.

The export of Norwegian salmon continues to increase.

A new marketing campaign has been launched to promote Label Rouge Scottish Salmon to discerning European consumers as new figures show sales of the premium product leapt 19 per cent to record levels in 2009.

A SCOTTISH MEP has warned of the danger of a new Spanish Armada - in the shape of the country's powerful fishing fleet.

THE decision to award a £1-million European Fisheries Fund grant to the Grimsby Seafood Village project was being hailed today as a move which will save hundreds of jobs and create many new ones. The award now paving the way for a market-leading fish processing centre after more than five years of planning.

A new UK-wide fishing industry coalition to ensure that the interests of fishermen are fully taken into account during the consultation and designation process for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) was officially launched today (23 February) at the House of Commons, London.

Smoked mackerel products have been produced on premises in Northern Ireland not registered with or approved by the district council in that area. The Agency has issued a Food Alert for Action asking district councils to make sure that two smoked mackerel products are withdrawn from sale and destroyed. The products are an unwrapped cold smoked mackerel and a wrapped hot smoked mackerel.

The Alaska longline cod companies are forming an export group, backed with a federal export guarantee and anti-trust exemptions, that will allow them to set prices, divide up export markets, and deny products to unapproved sellers in certain countries.

Last year we did a bit of Spring cleaning in the Fish Farmer office and realising that we were running out of storage space we decided to donate fisheries and aquaculture books to people who would use them.

Portree RNLI lifeboat launched at 9.35am on Saturday 20 February to go to the assistance of fishing vessel The Three Sisters, which had broken down in the Sound of Raasay.

The seafood industry was hit by a major thunderbolt last night after it was disclosed that one of its star performers the British Seafood Group had gone into administration.

PLANS for a modern new seafood village in Grimsby have finally received the go-ahead after the European Fisheries Fund announced a £1-million grant last night.

AN official inquiry into the sinking of a Scottish trawler more than 35 years ago has been unexpectedly adjourned. The Peterhead registered Trident foundered in October 1974 with the loss of seven crew members in what was Scotland’s worst fishing disaster for many years.

THE Marine and Fisheries Agency in the UK has warned that it will rigidly enforce the new EU regulations on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing which came into force a few weeks ago. The agency says it is implementing the regulations in close collaboration with other government agencies and it hopes to set up a London based IUU office at Billingsgate Market.

SOME amazing claims have been made in the past few weeks about the health benefits of eating oily fish or fish oil - and all from serious and authoritative medical organisations.

MAJOR changes have been announced at the top of Iceland Seafood International (ISI), the worldwide organisation for fresh, frozen and salted fish.

TRAWLERS flying the Danish flag and fishing off Canada's East Coast were told yesterday they cannot land their catches at any Canadian ports.

SCOTTISH and English fishing leaders have recently met government and environmental groups as part of a high level engagement over the creation of the new marine protected areas around UK waters.

THE skirl of the pipes today marked the opening of the major Fishing 2008 show in Glasgow.

FISHERMEN are going to have to learn to deal with the impact of soaring fuel bills and act accordingly, even if this means more fleet consolidation, an industry leader warned today.

THE Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF), the umbrella body for the four main Fishermen’s Organisations in Ireland, has said it is determined to play a central role in enhancing safety standards on board the Irish fishing fleet.