Undercurrent News

Undercurrent News (UCN) is a global seafood news business with the mission of bringing transparency to the seafood industry. Founded by Tom Seaman and Eva Tallaksen in August 2012^[1][2], UCN quickly became the largest English speaking seafood news website based on visitors per month^[3].

The company focuses mainly on global seafood news, ranging from daily business, prices and supply trends, to features and in-depth reporting. In March 2018, Undercurrent News launched a WeChat news feed in order to broaden its reach into China^[4].

UCN also provides price trends for seafood commodities^[5] and publishes industry reports^[6], including its yearly ranking of the sector’s largest players, The World’s 100 Largest Seafood Companies.

In February 2013, UCN was abruptly denied access^[7] to a major annual seafood conference that was due to take place in Bergen, Norway, the next month. The North Atlantic Seafood Forum had initially allowed to register UCN to register as press, but abruptly retracted that permission, citing that Intrafish Media would be the only allowed English-speaking press. The move sparked outcry among peer publications including SeafoodNews.com^[8] and Norwegian media. The Norwegian Press Association said the move meant Intrafish was in breach of the Ethical Code of Practice for the Norwegian Press^[9][10].

Example of news coverage

In September 2014, Undercurrent News was the first to reveal the illegal transshipment activities of the Damanzaihao^[11], a large mothership then owned by Pacific Andes, using satellite data which showed the vessel's trajectory in the South Pacific.

Following the reporting, the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization put the vessel on its draft list of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities^[12]. The inclusion was confirmed in the final list in January 2015^[13].

References