Ensis Fisheries is on track to open its new Hulhumalé, Maldives-based cannery by September of this year, confirmed Abdul Wahid Thowfeeq, the company’s co-owner and director.
The USD 15 million (EUR 14.2 million) facility will be capable of processing 25 metric tons of raw material per day, and will add 300 new employees to Ensis’ existing workforce of 400 people. Ultimately, the plant will serve to give back to the communities of the Maldives and the region’s local fishermen, who catch tuna for Ensis utilizing the sustainable pole-and-line method, Thowfeeq said.
“Our tuna is 100 percent sustainable, with zero percent bycatch. Of course, with the sustainability aspect, we want to support our fishermen to continue on in this way. We have built our cannery in support of the sustainability for our fishery,” he told SeafoodSource.
“With the canning of finished product, we will be able to offer a stable price to fishermen,” Thowfeeq added. “We have seen good market reception from all of our customers and a lot of support from our fishermen as well [for the cannery] – they would also like to get a good value for their product. If we just export it as raw material to other canneries in the world, we are not going to get the best value for them.”
Sustainability credentials remain of the utmost importance to Ensis, the largest tuna exporter in the Maldives, in terms of stock maintenance and social impact, Thowfeeq said. The company – which is already certified by the Marine Stewardship Council for its skipjack tuna and has been a member of the International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF) since 2016 – is currently pursuing Fair Trade certification.
“We are just going to start the process this year,” Thowfeeq confirmed of Ensis’ Fair Trade ambitions.
It’s been important for Ensis to reiterate and reinforce its place as a pioneer of sustainable seafood values during a time of increased confusions amongst tuan consumers over sustainability credentials, Thowfeeq noted.
“We are very much focused on sustainability, and we are undertaking all of these initiatives because lately there have been many mixed messages about the sustainability of tuna to the consumer, mixed messages about what kind of fishery is more sustainable and also about social impacts,” he said.
Overall, Thowfeeq said, “the kind of sustainability that we have for our tuna [at Ensis] is very well-received by our buyers, and by the end consumer. We are creating a good market position for our product.”
Business for the fresh market has been stable for Ensis in 2019, Thowfeeq said, with 80 percent of the company's offerings heading to Europe and 20 percent to the United States. In addition to its fresh portfolio, Ensis also continues to produce some frozen offerings, such as frozen yellowfin loins.
