Copper River to Increase Capacity by 5 Million lbs of Sockeye with Purchase in Bristol Bay  Copper River Seafoods expects to increase its Bristol Bay sockeye processing capacity by 5 million pounds this season after completing a deal to acquire Extreme Seafoods’ salmon processing facility in Naknek, Alaska. “The timing couldn't’t be better, we’re increasing processing capacity and supporting fishermen of the region during a projected banner year,” said Scott Blake, President and CEO of Copper River Seafoods. Renowned fishery scientist Ray Hilborn explains how the decline of California’s sardine stocks was not because of the commercial harvest but because of a natural decline in the fishery’s recruitment of juvenile fish. “Even if there had been no fishing the decline in California sardine would have been almost exactly the same,” comments Hilborn. In other news John Sackton writes a round-up from this year’s Seafood Expo Global in Brussels. Attendance was solid despite a transit strike in the city and with the Euro weak. “In short, demand for seafood remains very strong in a large and varied market, so the weakness of the Euro, like the weakness of the Yen is not a game changer, at least on the show floor,” Sackton said. Meanwhile, Newfoundland’s price arbitration panel selected the harvesters' offer of $1.40 per lb. for a blended price for coldwater shrimp, rejecting the $1.28 offered by the Province's shrimp processors. The price is up nearly 30 percent from last year’s. Meanwhile, the Newfoundland Association of Seafood Producers and Royal Greenland launched a joint project to promote coldwater shrimp in the UK market. Finally Peggy Parker reports on a letter signed by twelve coastal legislators that asks the NPFMC to “adopt a regulation change this June to reduce halibut bycatch limits by 50 percent.” The letter is signed by Senators Hoffman, Olson, Egan, Micciche, and Representatives Edgmon, Herron, Foster, Munoz, Seaton, Kreiss-Tomkins, Ortiz, and Colver.