Editor's Note
Publisher
Mary Larkin / mlarkin@divcom.com
Associate Publisher / Editor
Fiona Robinson / frobinson@divcom.com
Senior Editor, SeaFood Business
James Wright / jwright@divcom.com
Assistant Editor, SeaFood Business
Melissa Wood / mwood@divcom.com
Online Editor, SeafoodSource
Sean Murphy / smurphy@divcom.com
Assistant Editor, SeafoodSource
April Forristall / aforristall@divcom.com
Contributing Editors
Christine Blank, Anthony Fletcher,
Joanne Friedrick, Jason Holland,
Lauren Kramer, Chris Loew
Shrimp buyers on edge
Production Director
Randy LeShane / rleshane@divcom.com
Art Director
O
nly a few farmed seafood species have the power to make buyers worldwide
stand up and take notice when problems arise, and one of them is shrimp.
Vannamei, the ubiquitous afordable white shrimp, has had a big problem
with early mortality syndrome over the past few years. Asian shrimp farm
production is being dramatically impacted, as Contributing Editor Steve
Coomes writes about in this issue's Top Story, Diagnosed, on page 20.
Buyers in the frst half of this year have described the purchasing scenario as a "white
knuckle year." While Donald Lightner and his team of researchers at the University of
Arizona have pinpointed the culprit, a Vibrio bacteria infected with a virus, now the work
is geared toward determining how to stop the spread and eventually prevent the disease.
Whether that is possible and how long it could take (it took a few years to determine the
culprit) is anyone's guess.
What do all the supply problems mean for buyers? For big chains it means less reliance
on big-volume contracts and more spot purchases. Tis could translate into fewer shrimp
promotions in supermarket and restaurant chains and less shrimp sold on ad.
Of course there's also the countervailing duty case in the United States that's keeping
shrimp buyers on their toes.
So if you know someone who deals in a lot of shrimp and he or she is a little edgy, don't
start talking about work. It may be safer to stick with topics like the weather and the latest
funny video making the rounds on Facebook.
Laura Lee Dobson / ldobson@divcom.com
Production Associate
Doug Stewart / dstewart@divcom.com
Production Web Designer
Katie Emery / kemery@divcom.com
Advertising Coordinator
Wendy Jalbert / wjalbert@divcom.com
ADVERTISING SALES
Sue Kogan, Sales Manager
U.S. East Coast/Europe
(305) 598-0757 / skogan@divcom.com
Marjorie Ferris, Sales Manager
U.S. West Coast/Asia/South America
(207) 842-5631 / mferris@divcom.com
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING SALES
Wes Doane
(207) 842-5496 / wdoane@divcom.com
SALES FAX: (207) 842-5611
@SeaFoodBusiness, @SeafoodSource
.com/SeaFoodBusinessmagazine
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Copyright © 2013
Diversifed Business Communications
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Editorial Advisory Board
DISTRIBUTION
6
RETAIL
FOODSERVICE
Rich Polins, North Coast Seafoods
Jim Wallace, C&S; Wholesale Grocers
Andrew Wilkinson, Sysco
Robert Cerullo,
Wakefern Food Corp.
Jack Gridley,
Dorothy Lane Market
Roger Bing, Darden Restaurants
Roger Berkowitz and Richard Vellante,
Legal Sea Foods
Steve LaHaie, Shaw's Crab House
SeaFood Business
June 2013
Nancy Hasselback President/CEO
Mary Larkin VP Seafood Expositions
Liz Plizga Show Director, SENA, SEGlobal, SESE
Karen Butland Sales Manager, IBSS
Victoria Hennin VP Strategic Marketing
and Business Intelligence
(207) 842-5500 / Fax: (207) 842-5505
www.divbusiness.com