EMEA deputy editor Dan Gibson brings you a roundup of the main stories from the previous week.

At a time of heightened geopolitical tension and concerns over mounting tariffs, it was perhaps a relief that the biggest headline coming out of the US last week was the return of Lobsterfest, the signature annual sales event run by major foodservice chain Red Lobster.

Coming nearly a year after the chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid the exit of 25% shareholder Thai Union Group, there were question marks over whether the event would happen, but instead the group has doubled down as it pursues a return to profitability by 2026.

In another big piece of news from the US shellfish market, the state of California approved a new form of low-tech crab gear designed to reduce whale entanglements from Dungeness crab fishing operations. The new tech sees 20 crab traps hooked in a row, to be retrieved by a grapple, and represents a far less expensive option than other ropeless pop-up gear technologies that are also under development.

On the other side of the Pacific, in the Philippines, skipjack tuna harvests increased by a stunning 31% year-on-year to 236,000 metric tons in 2024, marking the second-highest level on record. This was both a stark rebound from the previous year's drop-off, and came even as the country's overall fisheries sector contracted by 5%.

There was also another development on the Indonesian aquatech unicorn eFishery, which allegedly inflated its revenue by $600 million from 2018 to 2024. An audit, conducted by FTI Consulting, has identified 16 executives that it claims were either involved in or fully aware of alleged efforts to fudge accounting practices at the firm.

Finally, the biggest news in Europe last week was that state-owned fishing giant Royal Greenland has fired its CEO Susanne Arfelt Rajamand, effective immediately. Rajamand has been at the helm since February 2023, and had been tasked with overseeing a significant restructuring and job reduction program prior to her dismissal.

For the rest of last week's most-read stories, click the headlines below.

• Wild salmon group demands pause in Newfoundland farm expansion until marine debris removed
• US lobster tail prices dip, meat holds steady as tariff threat looms
• How fast can shrimp run on a treadmill? DOGE goes after commercial fishing research
• Mowi wins skin-pack supply relationship with Trader Joe’s at expense of US processors
• Alaska cuts chinook salmon quota for Southeast’s troll fleet
• North America’s only pompano farm sold to existing aquaculture company after 5-year effort
• Silver Bay deal to snap up rival OBI’s plants could happen ‘any day’
• Mexico blocks Ecuadorian shrimp amid rising tensions over 27% tariff
• Trident brings Costa Coffee exec back to seafood to run European operations
• Major US shrimp importers unite as Captain Fresh’s CenSea buys Ocean Garden