Quality Assurance
At Seachill, the Quality Assurance (QA) team are responsible for setting important specifications for each product.

Seachill are one of the UK’s leading fresh fish processors. As pioneers in the sector, they have recognised the need to make the transition from a labour intensive, paper based business, to one that records and measures data electronically, ensuring optimum accuracy, efficiency and traceability.

IT was a sweet and sour weekend recently for a well known Cardiff fishmonger.

ONE of the few remaining port based  fishing industry training centres on the East Coast is to close because its funding has been cut.

SCOTLAND is to get a radical new fish and chip shop - and the twist is that there may not be quite so  many chips on sale.

A THREE day fish handling skills extravaganza gets under way this  weekend  to prove that the art of being a fishmonger have not been forgotten.

THE Norwegian Leyroy Seafood group has announced a big increase in second quarter turnover and  profits, almost certainly helped by the surge in salmon prices. Turnover was up from 1,823-million Norwegian kroners in 2009 (£188-million sterling) to 2,176-million kroners (about £224-million sterling).

Waterford shellfish processor Erin Isle Seafood Ltd has become the latest Irish company to switch from sodium metabisulphite to the more effective Prawnfresh treatment for prawns.

Findus Group, which includes Young's Seafood and The Seafood Company, has appointed a new marketing director for its  has announced the appointment of Tasha Gladman as Marketing Director for its UK Frozen business.

A STRONG Canadian dollar saw Nova Scotia based Clearwater Seafoods  announce a second-quarter loss of $4.5 million The Halifax-based company's loss compared with a profit of $11.3 million a year earlier. Sales dropped to $65.2 million from $70.2 million. This is not the first time that the strength of Canada's currency has affected the company's results.

THE long running and often controversial plan  to rebuild Newlyn fish market and fishing harbour in Cornwall have finally been shelved.

A NEW move to counter the growing shortage of traditional fish handling skills, including fish filleting, is due to get under way in Grimsby later this year.

Seafish is inviting those with innovative ideas to apply for grants from the 2011 Seafish Industry Project Fund worth up to £1 million.

IN what is seen as a major surprise, Nomura Securities Company, the Japanese owned  financial services group is to set up the world's first investment trust specifically targeting global seafood and fisheries related businesses. The group is planning an investment that will raise around $1.6 billion annually.

UK fish buyers face an uncertain month ahead on supplies and prices. The Iceland summer is short and many Icelandic vessels have taken advantage of the good weather to lay up until the new fishing quotas take effect on September 1st. But there could be problems storing up for the autumn.

THE growth in Norwegian seafood exports seems unstoppable. The latest figures published today show overseas sales of both farmed and wild caught fish soared by over 15 per cent to a record 3.8 billion kroners (around £380 million sterling).

PORTERS at Billingsgate, Britain's oldest fish market have launched a mass protest over plans to change the way it is being run by the City of London Corporation.

IN another major international seafood deal, the company which makes many of the McDonalds restaurant chain fish products has been snapped up by a Japanese company.

LION Capital, the private equity owners of Young's Seafood and Findus, have swooped for the French frozen food firm Picard Surgeles.

Tess Agro’s yellowfin tuna and swordfish pass traceability audit making Friend of the Sea leading sustainable seafood label in Sri Lanka.

GRIMSBY's £3-million seafood village plan has finally received the go-ahead - almost five years after the scheme was first conceived.

JOHN West, one of the best known names in canned seafood in Britain, has finally been sold following months of speculation. John West is part of the larger French owned MW Brands which also has separate operations in its home country.

YOUNG'S Seafood have moved  their 'Fish For Life' campaign up a couple of gears by launching a special website about the initiative.

PLANS to increase trade in seafood between Grimsby and one of the most important fishing centres on Canada's East Coast are being drawn up.

Counting fish is never going to be easy but with the correct application of some well thought out number crunching, it may not be as hard as you think, writes Craig Marsden of Lark Statistics.

NORWAY'S Aker Seafoods has taken full control of the Spanish fish harvesting company Pesquera Ancora.

GIANT fish finger producer Birds Eye Iglo has won the battle to buy one of the biggest European prizes in frozen fish and frozen food - Findus Italy. Birds Eye are owned by the private equity company Permira.

MARK Escolme, managing director, Young's Seafood and Findus in the UK said it was his love of fish and the vibrancy of the business which attracted him into the industry.

YOUNG’S/FINDUS has hit back at a newspaper report which claimed fish stocks would near extinction by 2050.

GRIMSBY'S reputation as the seafood centre of Europe will be greatly strengthened this week when it hosts the first ever Humber Seafood Summit.

ONE of Canada's  fastest growing fish product businesses  has changed hands.
Vancouver based Premium Brand Holdings has bought a 76 per cent holding in the fish products company Maximum Seafood of Toronto which has sales of around $56 million a year.

THE Serious Fraud Office has finally confirmed that it is investigating  the affairs of the British Seafood Group which collapsed in February.

A 20-year-old self confessed fish fan from Edinburgh is celebrating culinary triumph this week.

SEAN Connick TD, Irish Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, last week opened Fish Ireland 2010, Ireland’s premier trade exhibition for the Irish Fishing Industry.

THOMAS Farstad, currently acting CEO of Marine Harvest, has been appointed as the new president and CEO of Aker Seafoods ASA.

A MONTH after being awarded an international environmental certification, Alaska flatfish species are receiving new attention from seafood buyers and restaurateurs.

THE Canadian Government is pushing the boat out on marketing the country's seafood  including that produced by its fish farming sector.

TWO of Britain's seafood producing companies have combined revenues of well over £2-Billion, new figures have shown.

THE Asian seafood company Thai Union Frozen Products has joined the list of contenders interested in buying the group which owns the iconic John West brand.

Customer-driven product wins foodservice award

The Seafood Company has today announced it is entering a 30 day consultation on the proposed transfer of its whitefish filleting operation at Midgleys in Hull to Marsden Road in Grimsby.  If the move goes ahead there would be a phased closure over 90 days with all 41 staff offered the opportunity to relocate to the Grimsby factory.

NO need to go to the seaside for fish and chips  and ice cream any more! The two holiday  favourites are now being sold in one - as fish and chip ice cream! The well known ice cream maker Frederick Dairies of Lancashire has its most bizarre flavour yet and the company hopes it will become a hit during the  World Cup tournament which starts today.

THE Icelandic Group is planning an eight million dollar expansion of its seafood operation in the United States.

THE threat of a potentially damaging strike by Norwergian fish processing workers has been lifted. A prolonged stoppage would have affected salmon and white fish production, raising the possibility of a sharp rise in fish prices. However, a settlement between employers and unions was reached at the weekend. But currency fluctuations and strong demand are managing to keep prices high in the UK, both at coastal markets and in the retail sector.

GRIMSBY can now claim to be one of Britain's seafood culinary centres of excellence  as well as the largest fish processor in the country.

A YEAR after OCEAN2012 came to life, and coinciding with World Oceans Day tomorrow (8 June), the 70-member coalition dedicated to transforming European fisheries policy is launching the first ever European Fish Week.

TWO UK private equity houses who have major investments in the seafood industry could soon be battling it out for one of Italy's leading frozen fish companies.

YOUNG'S Seafood's "Fish For Life" sustainability programme has triumphed in Europe, winning a top award.

JOE Sprott, one of the post war pioneers of the frozen fish industry, has died aged 95.

THE 'Fish For Life'  seafood sustainability programme, run by Young's and its parent Findus Group, takes on its own "Eurovision" contest in Brussels today.

A GRIMSBY  fish merchant has just completed a £100,000 plus investment  in his business to create what is virtually a modern new fish factory inside an old shell.

THERE was relief on Grimsby Fish Market at the weekend  after the new coalition Government announced that it was freezing huge backdated  business rating demand from the Valuation Office.

THE important Canadian Clearwater Seafoods Company has a new chief executive and it is clear that he will look East for market growth.

THE 18th annual European Seafood Exposition and 12th annual Seafood Processing Europe just came to an end following an exciting three days, 27 through 29 April, in Brussels, Belgium.

THE Norwegian seafood company, Taste of North, have used Nofima’s sensory panel to have their new juniper smoked salmon steaks product analysed.

A MAJOR supplier to The Seafood Company, which has large production facilities in Scotland and in Grimsby, is bidding to get its business accepted under  the Marine Stewardship Council's certification programme.

A NEW seafood firm, Argyll Smokery, is launching in Dunoon supplying produce under the Highland Mary brand.

SEAFOOD is helping to drive up record exports of Scottish food products, new figures have shown.

THE face of David Beckham is appearing on Young's fish fingers, Mariners Pie and other top selling products in  a move to encourage healthier eating.

A DORMANT seafood factory is back in business at Maryport in Cumbria with new products and new jobs.

PINNEY'S of Scotland, famous for being a supplier of smoked salmon to the Queen, is  looking at reducing the size of its workforce.

PLANS for a  new seafood processing village in Grimsby have moved a significant step forward.

ALTHOUGH there was a reasonable amount of fish on the Humber markets yesterday, cod remained in short supply  - and prices moving in an upward direction again.

THREE New Zealand salmon products have been judged by international taste awards experts as being ‘exceptional’ with a further three called ‘remarkable’.

THE winners of the 2010 Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards were revealed at an awards ceremony last night, held at the Benromach Distillery in Forres.

BRITAIN'S largest seafood producer last night praised  a new  report on the  "parlous" state of fish stocks published this week by Nature magazine.

GRIMSBY Fish Market received a surprise visitor this morning - David Cameron.

Sydney Fish Market, one of the largest in the southern Hemisphere, is to receive a £25-million  facelift to secure its future  under a new partnership between the State Government and Sydney Fish Market company.

WHEN it comes to seafood, Grant's Smokehouse of Maryport in Cumbria may not be among the giants. But last night it pulled off a huge giant killing act by winning the top foodservice Seafood Prix d'elite award at the European Seafood Exposition in Brussels.

AS part of its long-term ‘Fish for Life’ commitment to sustainable seafood, the Findus Group yesterday announced its ambition to buy all the wild-caught fish for its Young’s and Findus retail brands across Europe from fisheries independently certified to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard by 2012.

THE  Findus Group has  declared its ambition to buy all the wild-caught fish for its Young’s and Findus retail brands across Europe from fisheries independently certified to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard within the next two years. The pledge is part of the group's  long-term ‘Fish for Life’ commitment to sustainable seafood.

THE man who bought the Harry Ramsden fish restaurant chain and one of Grimsby's top seafood processing businesses this year has seen his wealth rise by around £70-million in the past 12 month, according to the Sunday Times Rich list published at the weekend.

A NUMBER of UK companies are among the 43 finalists competing for one of the world's top prizes at the European Seafood Exposition which opens in Brussels tomorrow.

A SEAFOOD company which includes the celebrity chefs Heston Blumenthal among its customers has again being named as being among  Britain's fastest growing profitable private companies.

A strong Scottish contingent is heading for the world's largest seafood show, the European Seafood Exposition (ESE) in Brussels (April 27-29), where companies exhibiting on the Scottish Pavilion expect to generate sales leads in excess of £20 million.

ICELAND is  to start processing mackerel for human consumption following the allocation of a large new quota.

ICELANDIC fish producers are preparing to resume air shipments of seafood to Britain following news that some UK airports are set to re-open today. But it will several days yet before there is a full normal service and there is still the possibility of another air shutdown if the volcanic ash cloud worsens.

THE international food group Towers Thompson has set up a new seafood operation in Grimsby - at the same location as one of the failed  British Seafood subsidiary businesses.

HE new owner of Five Star Fish said last night that one of his first priorities will be expand the business and protect jobs.

Young’s Seafood is increasing its use of Vietnamese reared Basa fish with the launch of its  latest Chip Shop range product -   bite-size  Mini Fillets.

FIVE Star Fish, the big Grimsby based seafood company and a major supplier to the food service industry, has been sold in a multi million pound deal.

SCOTTISH fish company has boosted its carbon footprint credentials following a new distribution deal with a major transport company.

FINANCIAL experts are still trying to find a buyer for Five Star Fish of Grimsby, more than a month after the company was placed  into administration.

THE organisers of Oban’s first Festival of the Sea have been overwhelmed at community support and enthusiasm for the event.

The new washer has been developed in consultation with nozzle specialists and detergent manufacturers to produce a highly efficient machine incorporating the latest technology.

THE long awaited plan to modernise Grimsby Fish Market is to go ahead following the news  that funding is now available.

Macrae, the Scottish seafood producer, has managed to reduce the carbon footprint at its Edinburgh operation by a total of 13 per cent throughout, following the latest annual environmental audit.