Cape Town, South Africa-based fish-processing company Oceana Group has recorced a positive performance within its canned fish sector, as well as its fishmeal and fish oil business, thus far in 2023. Suleiman Salie, the group’s managing director of its canned fish brand Lucky Star, talked to SeafoodSource on the organization’s recent performance and how the group navigates the stringent regulations its export markets place on all suppliers.
SeafoodSource: Oceana Group has recently announced an increase in revenue from its canned, fishmeal, and oil segments. How did the company achieve this?
Salie: We have three segments at Oceana Group: canned fish, wild-caught seafood, and fishmeal and fish oil in both South Africa and the U.S. The drivers behind our performance have really been the strength of the seafood market, the strength of fisheries resources, and, of course, our determination to ensure efficiency in our company operations. For instance, in the canned fish segment, we ensured adequate and affordable supply, especially in South Africa where demand remains high. This was the key to increasing our revenue. For our fishmeal and fish oil segment, it was all about efficient catch and the fact that we started on improved opening inventory levels. Demand for fishmeal and oil remains strong because the global aquaculture industry is huge and continues to grow, driven by the increasing demand for affordable protein sources among the growing population.
Although there are different global initiatives to address the increasing demand for protein from this growing population, seafood remains the main source of supply. Our wild-caught seafood is stable, and globally, aquaculture is growing, hence the demand for increased marine ingredients for aquafeed production. There is also high demand for canned fish, especially in South Africa, largely due to its relatively affordable pricing compared to other protein alternatives such as chicken.
SeafoodSource: The push toward seafood-processing companies embracing the idea of 100 percent fish utilization has been a trend for some time now. How has Oceana Group performed on this front?
Salie: Oceana Group produces the canned fish brand Lucky Star, and all fish trimming from the canning process goes immediately into fishmeal and oil production. These are the raw materials for the production of aquafeed within the aquaculture industry, and this is what utilizing 100 percent of fish is all about.
SeafoodSource: Traceability is increasingly relevant in the seafood supply chain to support sustainability of fisheries. What role does traceability play in Oceana Group’s business strategy?
Salie: Oceana’s export markets are quite strict when it comes to sustainability. You have to prove the products were sustainably sourced for you to remain in these markets. It is our responsibility to provide this kind of transparency, so if Oceana places any seafood product in the market, it can be traced back to the exact resource where the fish was taken as well as the permissions used, vessels involved, and the factory that processed it. Whether it is fish for consumption or fishmeal and oil going into aquafeed production, we operate systems that can – with support of documentation – trace back the fish to exactly where it was caught. Obviously, the starting point for us is that we operate in fisheries that are well-managed and are certified as being sustainable.
Seafoodsource: What are Oceana Group’s biggest export markets?
Salie: Europe is one of our big markets for our fishmeal and oil. This is a market that insists on seafood products from certified fisheries. Oceana Group needs to show its chain of custody certification throughout the entire sales process. Specifically, we sell to Scandinavian countries where aquaculture is pivotal, such as Norway and Denmark. There is also a growing aquaculture industry in the Mediterranean thanks to the region’s sea bream and sea bass production, so our fishmeal and oil also go to this market.
SeafoodSource: Where does Oceana Group get its fish for canning purposes?
Salie: Oceana imports some of it and also catches fish locally for our two canneries. Once we process the fish, the offcuts go into the fishmeal and oil plant. We make sure each piece of the offcuts is utilized immediately.
SeafoodSource: How has South Africa’s total allowable catch (TAC) allocation affected Oceana Group over the last two years?
Salie: The fisheries sector in which Oceana Group operates is well-managed. We engage with the government through the South African Pelagic Fishing Industry Association, an association which, together with the government’s fisheries department, conducts all the required research and surveys before reaching a collaborative decision regarding TAC allocation. Although the final decision on the allocation rests with the fisheries department, the department values the input from the industry based on our experiences. The TAC for all the fishery resources in South Africa is set from the beginning of the year and is determined by facilitated surveys. Our expectation is that the resource will continue to be stable despite the fluctuation in biomass from year to year, especially in sardines, as well as the pelagic fish that we use for fishmeal and fish oil.
Photo courtesy of Oceana Group
