--- The Fraser River Sockeye run began last week in British Columbia and 750,000 lbs were caught during the initial 38 hour opening. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced the opening to commercial gillnetters on August 6th for the Upper Johnstone Strait that will commence until further notice. The forecast for Fraser Sockeye still remains at 23 million fish, but could be as high as 72 million fish if the return follows the 2010 bumper crop pattern. --- Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced an import ban on seafood and other proteins from Norway, the U.S., the E.U., Australia, and Canada. Russia is one of Norway's biggest export markets for seafood, amounting to almost 800 million USD worth of export revenue just for salmon. The import bans mean that the single largest market for Norwegian salmon needs to find a new location immediately; Norway exports around 2,500 tons of salmon to Russia every week. Ultimately the ban will cause a dramatic decrease in salmon prices globally, as well as driving domestic prices up for Russian consumers. --- Wholesale prices of Chilean Coho are down nearly 10 percent in the Japanese market from two months ago. As you may recall from our previous episode, Chilean Coho competes directly with Alaskan salmon, and analysts are saying that the strong catch of wild sockeye salmon is the cause of the decreased consumer demand in Japan. --- Other news in Japan, the net fall chum salmon fishery in Hokkaido has been withdrawn from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). The Hokkaido Federation of Fisheries Co-ops announced the decision last week, and will join the Alaska salmon fishery's decision to not seek MSC approval. China is the biggest buyer or MSC Hokkaido Chum, closely followed by the E.U., and will be pleased to avoid the premium paid for MSC certified raw material. --- Finally, Typhoon Rammasun hit China's smallest province of Hainan last month and has severely cut the capacity of shrimp seedlings. Some farmers lost as much as 65 percent of their crops during the storm. Many of the shrimp hatcheries are still without electricty and will not be able to support the August demand for seedlings.

---Thanks for joining me for the Tradex Foods "3-Minute Market Insight" This is Rob Reierson - “BUY SMART” and “EAT MORE SEAFOOD”

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