Editorial director Tom Seaman brings you a roundup of the main stories from the previous week  

Last week, Undercurrent News was reporting live from the annual Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) All Hands on Deck meeting. For all the coverage of the meeting, held in Anchorage, Alaska, click here.

During the ASMI All Hands week, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council also recommended a 6% rise in the Alaskan Eastern Bering Sea pollock quota but a 5% reduction in the Gulf of Alaska. The Russian sector, meanwhile, is calling for a reduced pollock quota. 

Then, Venezuela threw farmed shrimp markets into disarray by canceling the export licenses for Lamar Group shrimp, even for containers on the water to Asia, the EU and the US.

The Venezuelan government claims Jose Enrique Rincon, owner and CEO of Lamar, orchestrated a plot against president Nicolas Maduro's regime, then seized the company's assets on Nov. 28. The Maduro government has a history of seizing private businesses under controversial circumstances. Rincon has reportedly fled for Spain. 

Export permits and batch sanitary certifications issued for all containers currently in transit and destined for various international ports processed before the date of this communication are cancelled, states a note dated Nov. 28 from INSOPESCA, the country's fisheries and aquaculture ministry.

A price roundup on Canadian lobster was also a very well-read story of last week. 

Landings are down in Canada's largest lobster fishery as harvesters confront both bad weather and a higher-than-usual number of trap-occupying Jonah crabs to kick off the season, but that's been good for dock prices. 

Buyers in lobster fishing areas (LFAs) 33 and 34 -- off the southeast and southwest coasts of the province of Nova Scotia -- were paying about CAD 11.50 ($8.18) per pound for live hardshells, Heather Mulock, executive director of the Coldwater Lobster Association, told Undercurrent. This was just a few days after the season opened on Nov. 26.

Another source -- a Canadian-based wholesaler -- told Undercurrent that harvesters were getting slightly more, CAD 12.00/lb, which would match what was being paid in nearby, smaller LFAs 35 and 36, where the seasons started ahead of those in LFAs 33 and 34, as previously reported by Undercurrent.

In addition, the story features updates on US wholesale frozen lobster prices, as well as export prices in Shanghai, China and Paris, France. Then, we have European wholesale pricing data from the Rungis market in the French capital. 

For the rest of last week's biggest stories, click the headlines below.

• New Brunswick cold storage, processing sector win big in latest Canadian funding round
• Canadian Atlantic salmon production in British Columbia plunges nearly 42%
• Canadian minister warns marine sanctuary threatens Newfoundland fishermen
• Espersen makes more layoffs in UK with no end in sight for losses
• Alaska seafood champions list what's needed in 2025 to recover from economic 'williwaw'
• Russian H&G pollock prices tumble while sellers anticipate increase in PBO fillets
• Russian pollock industry calls for another 30% cut to West Bering Sea TAC
• US Pacific cod prices buoyed by strong demand as biologists project 2025 fishery limits
• UAE firm in pole position to land Avramar, delays cause another bidder to withdraw
• Reduced US scallop harvest plan for 2025-26 season advances