Based on the outcome of the annual general meeting on 21st May 2013, the board of directors of Cermaq ASA has decided that the voluntary offer on all shares in Copeinca, which was announced 5th April, will not be completed.

The Scottish Salmon Company (SSC) is in a strong position for the year ahead, following a positive first quarter for 2013.

Associations representing 70,000 employees and over €2 billion in European farmed fish production signed up on Thursday May 23 to a declaration of five principles upon which the valuable aquaculture industry should be handed down through the generations in the best possible economic, social and environmentally sustainable state.

THE move towards creating a super-sized global salmon producer moved a huge step closer today after Marine Harvest shareholders agreed to increase their offer for Norwegian rivals Cermaq.

While Norwegian-based acquaulture giant Cermaq failed to achieve the two-thirds shareholders’ vote in favour of purchasing Peruvian fish feed company Copeinca at its AGM yesterday, it appears that the board of the state majority-owned company may not  have given up on the acquisition proposal.

One hundred pupils from Oban High School in Argyll, Scotland, are going to learn about how the right diet can make a huge difference to sporting performance and a healthier lifestyle at a Healthy Hearts of the Community roadshow next week (28 May 2013).

· Scottish Sea Farms invests over £2 million in new site plus an additional £5 million working capital investment every two years, spent with Scottish suppliers

· Four new jobs created, bringing the team to 16 skilled roles

THE Salmon and Trout Association has clashed with supermarket giant Sainsbury's over what it claims to be mislabelled farmed salmon by the retailer.

The Annual General Meeting of Cermaq ASA was held on the 21st of May 2013.

MARINE Harvest Scotland, the country's largest salmon farm company, has announced it has committed itself to a new international scheme aiming to reducing the environmental and social impacts associated with the industry. 

Scotland’s Chief Statistician has published the Scottish Shellfish Farm Production Survey 2012. The publication details statistics on the employment, production and value of shellfish from Scottish Shellfish Farms. It is structured to follow industry trends within the mussel, Pacific oyster, native oyster, queen scallop and scallop species sectors. Some statistics are given for the 10-year period 2003-2012.

SCDI’s Highland & Islands Committee today (Friday) visited Marine Harvest’s new hatchery at Lochailort and processing plant in Fort William to hear about developments both within Marine Harvest and the Scottish salmon sector.

A significant milestone in protecting Scottish salmon against pancreas disease has been reached with the number of doses of Norvax Compact PD vaccine supplied to salmon farmers recently passing 50 million. With pancreas disease remaining a significant threat to productivity the manufacturers MSD Animal Health believe that this demonstrates an increasing confidence in the efficacy of the vaccine, first launched in 2009.

Following the positive reaction from private shareholders of Cermaq to its hostile take-over bid, Marine Harvest has said it will remove the previously announced condition that its bid for Cermaq will require acceptance for the sale of the government's shares.

Reference is made to the announcement of 30 April regarding our intention to launch a voluntary offer for the shares in Cermaq ASA.

A 'yes' to Copeinca does not mean a 'no' to consolidation, says Cermaq of its bid to acquire the fish feed company in the face of a hostile take-over by fish farming giant Marine Harvest.

Food Certification International (FCI) is currently carrying out its first Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) pilot trout audit for a fish farm company in Turkey.

THE Salmon & Trout Association Scotland (S&TAS) has demanded, in advance of next week's Stage 3 debate on the Aquaculture and Fisheries Bill, that the Scottish Government should publish weekly sea-lice count data relating to each salmon farm in Scotland by law.

The Marine Science and Technology Department of the NAFC Marine Centre has been shortlisted in two categories in the Crown Estate’s Scottish Marine Aquaculture Awards 2013.

Marine Harvest has sent an open letter to the shareholders of Cermag, following its announcement that it intends to present an alternative to the acquisition of the Peruvian fish meal company Copeinca.

The Scottish Salmon Company (SSC) has been working with The Applecross Trust and Dulas Hydro Generation to develop a 500KW hydro-electric scheme at Kishorn on the Russel Burn.

Scottish Sea Farms has been shortlisted in six categories in this year’s highly competitive 2013 Crown Estate’s Scottish Marine Aquaculture Awards announced on Friday, May 3.

Cermaq has rejected Tuesday's announcement by Marine Harvest ASA 30 April 2013 of a potential conditional, unsolicited takeover offer for all of the outstanding shares of Cermaq ASA.

The precise estimation of the biomass stocked in offshore farms is an essential aspect to manage efficiently aquaculture facilities.

MARINE Harvest has acquired 4,341,000 shares in Cermaq, corresponding to 4.7 per cent of the latter's share capital, and has mentioned its long term intentions of acquiring Cermaq entirely in order to create "a global seafood leader".

IFA’s Aquaculture section has welcomed the publication today (Monday) by EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki of a new strategy to cut red tape and boost fish and shellfish farming which will create thousands of jobs and reduce Europe’s huge dependence on seafood imports.

FIGURES released today show that the Marine Harvest Group achieved an operational EBIT of NOK 482 million in the first quarter of 2013, compared to NOK 276 million in the corresponding quarter of 2012.

Metal-free mooring grid gains momentum

The Scottish Information Commissioner has found in favour of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture (GAAIA) in its appeal against Scottish Ministers following a freedom of information request to reveal information about seals killed under seal killing licences issued by the Ministers, including to which companies licences had been issued and how many seals were actually killed.

The first fish vaccine, ALPHA JECT® Panga ,1 received a Marketing Authorization from the Department of Animal Health, under Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in Vietnam, on April 10.

Farmed salmon continues to be one of Scotland’s greatest economic success stories, according to new figures released today by the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO).

Following the news yesterday, Wednesday, of the second highest salmon export figures issued by Scottish Salmon Producers Orghanisation, Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “Scottish salmon is celebrated across the world for its quality and provenance.

More than 100 participants attended the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Update meeting at the European Seafood Exposition 2013 on Wednesday, to listen to ASC’s CEO Chris Ninnes, Mr Cui He of the China Aquatic Products Processing & Marketing Association (CAPPMA), and Esther Luiten of The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH).

Farmed salmon continues to be one of Scotland’s greatest economic success stories, according to new figures released today by the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO).

The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), the leading standards-setting organisation for farmed seafood, has expanded the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification programme with the completion of new BAP standards for finfish and crustacean farms.

The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and GLOBALG.A.P. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding promising to work together to achieve greater efficiencies that will benefit all stakeholders.

A growing number of independent and trained certifiers are ready to start their audits. By the end of the year salmon products with the ASC logo for responsibly farmed will appear on the market.

Cermaq has reported an EBIT, pre fair value and non-recurring items for the first quarter, of NOK 94 million compared to NOK 11 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and NOK 101 million in the first quarter of 2012.

PLANS to construct a fish farm in a loch on the Isle of Mull off the west coast of Scotland have been refused by a Scottish Government reporter.

After several years of research, Nofima, the Norwegian food research institute, has developed a packaging method that enables salmon to stay fresh for up to 20 days.

With its first major crop harvest imminent, Wales’ only large-scale rope mussel fishery, Thomas Shellfish, has already set its sights on the export market by attending the European Seafood Exposition (April 23rd -25th, 2013).

The board of directors of Marine Harvest ASA has proposed a NOK 0.10 per share extraordinary dividend to the 2013 Annual General Meeting.

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) will be present on 23 - 25 April at the most important seafood exhibition of the world, the European Seafood Exposition (ESE) in Brussels.

Aquaculture equipment specialist Fusion Marine has been appointed as the UK distributor and support company for an innovative new oyster farming system.

THE United States based Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) says it is preparing to make "two exciting announcements" regarding the Best Aquaculture Practices certification programme at the European Seafood Exposition in Brussels tomorrow (Tuesday).

BAKKAFROST, the largest salmon farming company in the Faroe islands, has bought a 27 per cent stake in Marine Harvest Faroes for 54 million Danish kroners (about 7.24 million euros).

Figures released this week show that Scottish farmed salmon remains one of the world’s top premium health food products as production of the highest quality “Label Rouge” Scottish salmon increased by 7% between 2011 and 2012.

AquaBounty releases preliminary financial results for 2012

Colombia opens its doors to the world´s aquaculture and to host LACQUA 13 taking place from the 8th to the 11th of October of 2013. It is expected that LACQUA 13 will be a huge success that will set precedent for the aquaculture in the Latin-American and the Caribbean region.

With a Chinese delegation exceeding 50-strong and a 'China Zone' being planned for the tradeshow, the 7th International Symposium on Sturgeons (ISS7) is well positioned build on the scientific and technical advancements from ISS6 in Wuhan China, as well as to facilitate access to Chinese products and markets through the tradeshow connections.

IT is a scourge that has been facing UK fresh water fish farmers and fishing lake owners for the past few years - the plunder of valuable fishery stock from their waters.

The Scottish Salmon Company (SSC) has been awarded the internationally acclaimed Label Rouge accreditation for the quality and taste of its salmon.

Fusion Marine has “closed the loop” of manufacturing efficiency following delivery of new fish farm pens to The Scottish Salmon Company.

Permira, the European private equity firm with global reach, today announced that a company owned by the Permira funds has entered into an agreement to acquire PHARMAQ Holding AS (PHARMAQ), one of the world’s leading aquatic health groups, for a value of approximately €250m.

A significant milestone in protecting Scottish salmon against pancreas disease has been reached with the number of doses of Norvax® Compact PD vaccine supplied to salmon farmers recently passing 50 million.

Aqua Gen videos.

The first one is a presentation of Aqua Gen and the second one is about a new automated egg handling and fertilization line which is developed as a part of standardizing and increasing the sterile egg production.

A new Wellboat Technical Standards Working Group has been established by Marine Scotland.

Kodiak red king crab larvae are well on their way this spring at the Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery in Seward.

A research project is examining whether or not, with the correct physical exercise and good health screening, salmon smolt will become stronger and better at tackling the stress of being transferred to sea cages.

Bookings opened for trade stands at Aquaculture UK 2014 at the beginning of March this year and within two weeks, more than two thirds of the space had been sold! 

A genetic, biotechnical and breeding partnership have announced that they are the first to genotype more than 900,000 markers per sample from the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), thereby achieving the capability to implement genomic selection and improve their salmon breeding programme at Aqua Gen.

The overall value of Norwegian seafood exports in February was 300 million Norwegian kroners (NOK) lower than the same month last year. However, significantly higher salmon prices are continuing to lead a recovery in the fish farming sector.

THE ONLY female fish farm manager in the country is celebrating reaching a major milestone in her career with Marine Harvest Scotland in Ardnamurchan.

The Irish Sea Fisheries Board (BIM) is currently inviting grant applications for its Commercial Aquaculture Development Scheme.

Scottish Sea Farms has pledged financial support of £1,500 to a series of running, sporting and community events in Durness – the Cape Wrath Challenge.

Lantra’s tenth Land-based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Awards ceremony took place on February 28 2013 in Scotland.

Sixteen-year-old Ross MacDonald from Fort William has beaten off stiff competition to become the first apprentice in a new scheme run by Scotland’s largest aquaculture company.

RESIDENTS on Colonsay have voted to back a proposed fish farm development off the north east coast of the island.

THE Norwegian aquaculture, fisheries and food research institute Nofima has signed a three-year collaboration agreement with the University of Nordland in a bid to strengthen the research and continuing and further education at the two institutions.

MARINE Harvest ASA has announced that it has successfully completed an unsecured bond issue of NOK 1,250 million, in order to help finance the company’s takeover of Morpol.

FOLLOWING the mandatory offer made by Marine Harvest ASA on 14 January to acquire all outstanding shares in Morpol ASA, Marine Harvest has now received acceptance of the offer of a total of 64,729,810 shares.

Revenues achieved in the final quarter of 2012 boosted annual figures for The Scottish Salmon Company to £79.5m (2011, £90m), in what has been a challenging year. A total of £27.8m revenues were reported in Q4 (Q4 2011, £17.0m) on sales volume of 8,336 tonnes (Q4 2011, 4663 tonnes) in the quarter.

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has announced that it has appointed Laurent Viguié as its new representative in Brazil.

The North Atlantic Seafood Forum is experiencing very strong interest from seafood executives with delegate registrations well above last year's level.

Sixteen-year-old Ross MacDonald from Fort William has beaten off stiff competition to become the first apprentice in a new scheme run by Scotland’s largest aquaculture company.