Nicki Holmyard

Contributing Editor

Nicki Holmyard lives and breathes the seafood industry. As a specialist freelance writer for 25 years, she has travelled the globe to research in-depth articles, interviews and news stories on all aspects of fishing, aquaculture and processing for international journals and newspapers. She has contributed to books on sustainable seafood sourcing and the effects of climate change on the oceans, and acts as a communications consultant for leading fishing and aquaculture concerns. Nicki is also a director of Offshore Shellfish Ltd, which is developing Europe’s largest rope-grown mussel farm.


Author Archive

Published on
May 3, 2024

On 30 April, the U.K. introduced border checks on fresh food products entering the country from the E.U. – over four years after the country left the bloc through Brexit.

The new requirements mandate that E.U. exporters of animal and plant products, including seafood chilled and frozen meat, dairy products, berries, and some cut flowers, must present export health certifications (EHCs) to U.K. authorities upon entry. The checks also

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Published on
April 8, 2024
For those working on the supply side of the seafood industry, clearly and accurately communicating the sustainable credentials of their products has become essential, but remains difficult for small-scale fishers to achieve, as they often don’t have the resources to attain certification or communicate effectively with consumers, according to Community Catch Director Andrew Hough. Community Catch, based in London, U.K., aims to address this… Read More
Published on
April 3, 2024

A Norwegian aquaculture startup has announced as plan to win an offshore salmon-farming license in the first licensing round Norway plans to host in 2025.

Lovund, Norway-based Utror, which is majority-owned by salmon farmer Lovundlaks, said it hoped to overcome current complications with Norway's offshore salmon-farming permit system, obtain a permit, and begin farming by 2028.

“We have spent significant time over the past year on an

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Published on
April 1, 2024

U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has been named the top performer in the second edition of Crustacean Compassion’s benchmarking report on decapod crustacean welfare.

Conducted by West Sussex, U.K.-based Chronos Sustainability, the report, “The Snapshot,” outlines 30 seafood companies’ performances related to the welfare of crabs, lobsters, prawns, and nephrops in their supply chains, judging on criteria such as

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Published on
March 22, 2024

The founders of Saarbrücken, Germany-based Seawater Cubes, a startup that has developed a plug-and-play recirculating aquaculture system for fish, are seeking EUR 3 million (USD 3.3 million) in funding to scale up production and marketing.

Seawater Cubes was founded in 2018 by business and marketing specialist Carolin Ackermann, automation technologist Kai Wagner, and mechanical engineer Christian Steinbach. Through the

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Published on
March 6, 2024

Norwegian Mountain Salmon (NMS) is planning to bring a unique method of land-based salmon farming to Scotland. 

NMS is proposing a GBP 600 million (USD 758 million, EUR 701 million), 224-tank fish farm on the remote Isle of Lewis off the northwest coast of Scotland. The company aims to build the farm under a hillside for maximum efficiency and minimize biological risks, with the potential to provide 500 million salmon dinners every year to

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Published on
February 7, 2024

A French court ruled on 18 January to institute an emergency closure of the Bay of Biscay to commercial fishing. 

The emergency closure of the fishing grounds from 22 January to 20 February to French vessels, as well as those fishing under flags of other E.U. member state, aims to protect cetaceans – a group of aquatic mammals comprising whales, dolphins, and porpoises. The ban extends to all vessels over 8 meters in length and

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Published on
January 17, 2024

AquaCultured Seafood has received the regulatory green light from the North East Lincolnshire council to move forward on a 5,000-metric-ton (MT) recirculating aquaculture system facility following an 18-month planning process, which, upon completion, will become the U.K.’s first onshore salmon grow-out farm.

The company plans to build the farm on former rail sidings at the port of Grimsby on the nation’s east coast. North East

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Published on
December 22, 2023

After scampi recently became the subject of an attack campaign launched by Scottish charity Open Seas, U.K. public body Seafish has backed the seafood industry in declaring that the product should stay on restaurant menus and retailers’ shelves.

Open Seas launched its “Say No to Scampi” campaign in October, urging supermarkets to discontinue stocking the product and encouraging customers to avoid purchasing scampi until the

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Published on
November 16, 2023

Blydoit Fish, a wholesale and retail seafood supplier based in Scotland’s Shetland Islands, is up for sale.

After 20 years in business, its four owners have decided that the time is right to move on. According to James John Shearer, who helped found Blydoit in 2003 as a means of selling the catch from his whitefish fishing vessel, the Mizpah LK173, there is a “tremendous opportunity” for a new owner to further develop the

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