The 2020 Seafood Expo Asia edition, which was scheduled to take place on 18-20 November in Singapore has been cancelled due to ongoing health and safety issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic. This was announced yesterday by the USA organizers, Diversified Communications.

Seafood Expo Asia is the third annual international seafood event that the organizing company has had to cancel this year and intend to reschedule for 2021, after the Seafood Expo Global in Brussels and Seafood Expo North America in Boston. The company's spokesperson stated that “this has been a challenging year for the seafood community and we are thankful for the support from the industry, our vendors and partners”.

Singapore was making its debut as host-country to this event’s 10th edition, which in previous years had been held in Hong Kong.

French supermarket chain, Carrefour, reported on Tuesday that it will be increasing its purchase of pole-and-line caught MSC certified albacore for its stores in Spain this year. It plans to buy 340 M/T of the tuna, a seven percent jump from 2019. The fish is caught by 250 boats operating in twelve fish markets in Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country.

The company said that this increase is a sign of commitment to the Spanish fishing industry. This move comes when other major retailers in the country have also been increasing their share of selling sustainable MSC certified albacore. Since July, Eroski, a Spanish supermarket chain with nearly 1,000 outlets spread across the country, has started a campaign promoting the fish which is being sold under its brand, Eroski Natur.

Spanish tuna company Balfegó has come under criticism for not compensating fishermen after thousands of its bluefin were released from their cages and washed up ashore in January when the storm Gloria hit the Spanish eastern coast. The fishers spent weeks catching the decomposing fish, but could not sell it due to putrefaction. It also delayed their own fishing. According to the Cronica Global, the impact on some vessels amounted to EUR 15,000.

The L’Ametlla organization, which is negotiating with Balfego, said that a deal was reached with the fishers but due to the coronavirus and other reasons, payment has not been made. Balfegó is one of the largest suppliers for bluefin to restaurants in Spain and Japan but the global pandemic has impacted its sales.