Top Story: Provincial lobster levy won’t be implemented in Nova Scotia this winter 

News Summary:  Things have slowed down for the proposed Canadian lobster marketing levy, to be implemented in three Atlantic provinces. In Nova Scotia, the levy will not be in place for this year’s fall and winter season, says the Provincial Government. One mis-step was the announcement of a pilot program at a much higher levy rate than agreed to by industry. This program still has not been unveiled. Nor has final legislation implementing the collection of the marketing levy been tabled. In our opinion, it is likely that a successful Maine vote on lobster processing bonds next month will spur the Canadians to get their marketing campaign in gear. 

In other news, the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Assoc., which has done much to improve the quality and value of the regions sockeye salmon, has released a preliminary study on a buyback program to reduce the total number of permits. The program, which could cost around $100 million, will be discussed at the upcoming Seattle Fish Expo, and permit holders are encouraged to read and comment on the report. 
Under federal rules, a simple majority of permit holders can vote to approve a buyback plan that meets all federal standards. 

The comeback in Chile’s aquaculture industry and the overall strong performance this year has led to an upbeat Aquasur trade show and meeting this week in Los Lagos. One theme of the meeting is the need to diversify further from salmon, and to focus on additional species. Brazil is emerging as a major competitor. 

According to a recent report from JPMorgan, Kroger will surpass Whole Foods as the largest seller of organic and natural foods within 2 years. Kroger, which has ten times as many stores, is bucking the supermarket headwinds by focusing on affluent and upscale consumers, who are more interested in organic and niche foods rather than traditional big box supermarket fare. Kroger is directly appealing to this segment. 

Finally, one trend we are seeing over and over again is the growth of online ordering of seafood in Asia. With a region full of tech savvy consumers with money for seafood, online sales will be more important than they are in the US. One item in this vein that caught our attention was Singapore fish farms beginning internet based door to door delivery service. They claim they need this to compete with neighboring Malaysian farms that have lower overhead costs. 

Have a good weekend.

John Sackton, Editor And Publisher , Lexington, Massachusetts 

Seafood.com News 1-781-861-1441 

Email comments to jsackton@seafood.com

Subscription info: Seafood.com is a subscription service, published by Seafood.com and Urner Barry. Urner Barry's COMTELL subscribers receive Seafood.com news as part of their subscription package. Other companies and individuals need to subscribe to read our stories. If you or your company has not signed up yet, please consider doing so.

2014 Subscription prices for Seafood.com News are $26 monthly for a single user, $43 for 2-5 users, and $62 for 6-20 users. For questions about subscriptions or passwords, please Urner Barry at 1-800-932-0617, or subscribe on-line with a credit card by clicking the subscribe button.

Subscribe Here.