Ioakim Diamantidis received the nickname "Diopas" serving in the Hellenic navy in the 1950s. Once he finished his military service, Diamantidis started work crafting fishing nets in his village in Michanioa, Greece.
Nearly 70 years later, Diopas’ son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren continue his legacy by running and operating Thessaloniki, Greece-based Diopas S.A.
“Our grandfather started the company selling small fishing nets to the local people in our village, in the north part of Thessaloniki,” Diopas Marketing Director Magdalini Diamantidou told SeafoodSource at the 2023 Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona, Spain. “When he died, when my father was 18, my father continued his vision from selling to the local people to building a whole factory.”
Diopas S.A. exports its range of nets, which including specific models for commercial and recreational fishing and aquaculture, including nets for fish farms, globally.
Diopas has formed partnerships with several local universities to gauge its nets' efficiency at its headquarters, which also includes a 17,000-square-meter manufacturing facility. It is currently in the process of expanding its research center.
The testing in the new on-site tank facilities will commence by the end of 2023. The company has also initiated research on technology that can be included in its nets to reduce on reducing the loss of nets in the sea, Diamantidou said.
“Our company is unique because of all this research. We create the products, then try them to scale, then afterwards in the sea. We collaborate with many universities, where they are doing the research, then we create the product," Diamantidou said. “We’re going to have big tanks inside and replicate how the fish farm is, how the fish farm works, to test the research in there."
Photo by Bhavana Scalia-Bruce/SeafoodSource
