Over 49,000 tonnes of fish were exported from Ireland to Third (non-EU) countries in 2015 according the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA). Nigeria remains the highest importer, accounting for 46% of  these exports, followed by China, Cameroon, Ghana and Benin.

The data are taken from health certificates issued by the SFPA who are responsible for enforcing the State’s sea-fisheries and seafood safety laws. All consignments of fish and fish products manufactured, processed or packaged in Ireland for export to Third Countries generally must be accompanied by an SFPA health cert and contain details regarding their origin and traceability. This information is critical for providing confidence in product safety and protecting consumer health. 

Exports to Third Countries decreased during 2015 compared with 2014 (56,068 tonnes), mainly due to the closure of the Russian market. Other markets remained buoyant however, with many including Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and Benin, increasing their volume of imports.

An 'exceptional' line-up of speakers will present at a major seafood conference on June 30, opening the annual Ocean Wealth and Seafest events in Galway, running until July 3.

This full-day conference and networking event, Global Insights, Irish Opportunity, organised by BIM, Ireland's seafood development agency, will bring together leading experts and global representatives from the natiional and international seafood and agri-business communities, government and academia.

The speaker lineup includes Mary Shelman, former Director of the Agribusiness Programme, Harvard Business School; Malcolm Beveridge, Head of Agriculture, FAO Rome: Jean Jacques VandeHeede, AC Neilsen Europe and Aidan O'Driscoll, SG of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

At 440 pages and weighing over 2kgs, this is no ordinary book on seafood but an encyclopaedic culinary study of the variety of fish and shellfish of the North Atlantic.

Narrated over 12 chapters, this beautifully illustrated publication contains over 200 recipes and information on 120 species. Many familiar, and others less so: Poor cod, Three-bearded rockling, Witch, Starry smooth hound and Lumpsucker, for example, are identified and cooked in dry methods (frying, baking, roasting, grilling, barbecuing and deep-frying or wet methods (poaching, pot-roasting, steaming, sous vide and microwaving.)

Galway, and represents over twenty years of research, cooking, diving and photographing the diversity of fish and shellfish.