Spanish tuna fish processing and marketing company Actemsa – Leal Santos Group has joined the International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF), upping the nonprofit’s membership total to 38 businesses.
Founded in 1987 in Galicia, Spain, Actemsa has processed as much as 40,000 metric tons of tuna a year. In 2006, it acquired Alimenticias Leal Santos Ltda, one of Brazil’s largest producers of tuna loins. Actemsa also gained control of Alimenticias Leal Santos' six oceanic pole-and-line fishing boats as part of the transaction.
The company views its induction into the IPNLF as a way to further establish and fortify its tuna management goals and work to safeguard sustainable tuna stocks and communities, Actemsa Deputy Director of Production Antonio Fernández said.
“Actemsa – Leal Santos’s membership of the International Pole & Line Foundation is a further commitment in our support for improved tuna management, and our desire to see dynamic measures adopted in these fisheries that safeguard stocks and the futures of fishing communities,” said Fernández. “As well as underpinning our historical engagement with these fisheries, we believe IPNLF membership provides additional assurances to our customers and the marketplace that we are supplying fish that is both sustainably and ethically sourced.”
Actemsa – Leal Santos Group will join with other IPNLF members to help the non-profit fulfill its purpose, which is twofold, according to the organization: “Promote the environmental and social benefits derived from one-by-one fisheries around the world; and help develop and support these fisheries to improve their long-term viability and sustainability.”
“We are delighted to welcome Actemsa – one of Spain’s leading tuna processors of pole-and-line tuna – as our latest Member,” added IPNLF Managing Director Martin Purves said. “The International Pole & Line Foundation is a hub for proactive companies like Actemsa who want to help drive the sustainable and equitable development of one-by-one caught tuna. The global demand for these products continues to grow at a very rapid rate; as such, IPNLF believes all stakeholders have a crucial role to play in helping the industry bridge the supply gap."
