Chris Mahony is vice president of sales and marketing for Omega Azul Seafood, which produces Baja kanpachi (also known as Almaco jack or kahala) at its aquaculture operation in Mexico.
SeafoodSource: What are the core or key tenets of your company’s business strategy and how do you feel this foundation guides your business moving forward?
Mahony: Customers and employees are Omega Azul’s greatest asset and (the positive) treatment of others and creating win-win partnerships with our distributors is one of our guiding principles. We demand quality and excellence from our employees and search for more ways to deliver value to our customers. Terry Morris, the founder of Omega Azul, is one of the pioneers of aquaculture in Mexico. He and the shareholders want to create more jobs in Mexico as our growth ramps up. We want to make a difference in our employees’ lives as the company gets to the next level of growth. We have many loyal employees and we want them to feel involved in building a great company and something special in the local community. Together, we have a commitment to innovation and excellence. We are still in the early stages of development, but we strive daily to meet these goals and make sure they are always incorporated into our business strategy.
Of course, every company wants to have a commitment to sustainability and acting in an environmentally friendly way. What does this mean and how are we going to be measured? We will be setting global standards for Seriola rivoliana aquaculture development by working with the major certification programs so we are recognized for our environmental and social responsible efforts.
SeafoodSource: Your company is producing Baja kanpachi, which isn’t that well-known yet. How do you build a market for this fish? And why this white fish versus others already available to consumers, chefs and retailers?
Mahony: We are building a market for Baja kanpachi through good old-fashioned, boots-on-the-ground promotion. This fish is an amazing product and raved about by chefs who get the opportunity to work with it. We visit chefs and educate them on working with a sustainable aquaculture company. We show them how to use the product and how to get the best yields, resulting in more profits for their restaurants. We also collaborate with them on using every part of the fish so there is no waste and, in the end, the chefs produce some very creative dishes.
As you mention, it’s not a well-known fish, so our biggest challenge is exposure. We have to build the market one customer at a time. I know it sounds cliché but that’s what is happening. We started in the Los Angeles market and now have some of the top seafood restaurants in the city buying our fish. We use Instagram as our main social media platform for chef testimonials, videos and pictures of fantastic ways the chefs are using the fish.
We are partnering with distributors that believe in our premium product and share the same vision for a more sustainable product replacement for bluefin and yellowfin tuna. Our fish is winning the hearts and minds of chefs and retailers because of its year-round availability, proximity to the U.S. market, incredible shelf life and freshness and, of course, its great taste.
Yes, there are other white fish, but local young chefs in Los Angeles are really concerned with buying as local as possible, working with environmentally and socially responsible producers and knowing that our fish eat a premium non-GMO, hormone free and antibiotic free diet. This is what they are asking for, and what the consumer is demanding. When the chefs visit our operation in La Paz, they realize they are getting all the qualities they are looking for in our product.
SeafoodSource: What sustainability practices do you adhere to and why is this important to your business?
Mahony: Our site was selected based on the remote location, pristine waters and strong cross-sectional currents, which reduce the risk of benthic deposition of wastes. To further reduce benthic impact, we perform regular cage rotation and fallowing as well as regular benthic monitoring. This not only helps sustain the environment, but keeps the fish healthy as well.
The fish themselves are of the wild genotype (wild broodstock), meaning that in the highly unlikely event of an escape, there is virtually no risk of interspecies competition or alteration of the natural gene pool. Furthermore, by culturing wild genotype fish, we are reducing pressures on wild stocks – more availability reduces demand for wild caught.
Choice of feed also plays a critical role in sustainability, both for the local environment and the world as a whole. At the local level, feed composition affects things like feed conversion ratio (FCR) and feed efficiency (FE), which indirectly affect accumulation of waste in the benthic environment – the more efficiently a fish converts feed into flesh, the less waste it produces. At the global level, feed composition affects the availability of marine resources. Virtually all pelagic species are carnivorous and require a certain level of fishmeal and fish oil in their diet. A feed that can deliver adequate nutritional value with minimal use of fish meal and fish oil will place less pressure on global marine resources. This is sometimes expressed as a fish-in, fish-out ratio and we’re proud to say that ours is pretty phenomenal (about 1.087:1).
Omega Azul has several economic advantages over similar operations, including complete control over production volume (producing too little or too much is costly); year-round production; close proximity to the U.S. market, which reduces shipping costs; and a highly efficient feed formula that yields more than 70 percent FE (on average, feed accounts for 50 percent or more of an aquaculture operation’s production costs, so having an efficient feed is critical for economic viability).
Our operation wouldn’t be possible without a team of highly dedicated people working tirelessly towards a common goal. We value our team members deeply and so keeping everyone safe, healthy and happy is a must. We have a comprehensive occupational health and safety program in place for all our facilities. Our expanding operations have led to continued job creation; and further enriching the local community.
SeafoodSource: What do you see as your company’s greatest achievement thus far?
Mahony: I think the great achievement to date has been developing the intellectual property of how to produce this species with our knowledgeable, hard-working local employees in La Paz. The employees are incredibly dedicated to learning and following the highest standards in the hatchery. Building a core of great people, commercializing the product, building the beginning of a great brand and seeing sales grow have been great achievements for us. And we couldn’t be where we are today without the tremendous support from the Mexican government, which is extremely bullish on growing aquaculture in Mexico. Working together, we will create job opportunities as well as food security for the country.
SeafoodSource: What has been the biggest challenge?
Mahony: The biggest challenge so far has been access to capital. Investors from outside of Mexico aren’t normally familiar with doing business in Mexico, so this is a bit of a challenge. If people take the time to understand Mexico, they will realize there are so many great business opportunities, and ours is one of them. Aquaculture projects like ours will help fill the demand for premium protein across the globe for years to come.
SeafoodSource: If you could change one thing about the seafood industry as it stands now, what would that be?
Mahony: One thing I would change is the volume of different accreditations and certifications. It would be great if there was one for each continent that everyone recognized as the accreditation needed. I think it is confusing for consumers, chefs and producers. How do you decide which is the most important accreditation to get? As a small company, you only have so many resources to deploy and most of these programs are very time-consuming. It would be good to have a clearer vision on what to focus your energy toward.
SeafoodSource: What impact to do you see the Trump administration and its policies (related to trade, the environment, etc.,) having on the seafood industry?
Mahony: Well, we will have to wait and see what unfolds with the Trump administration and its policies. Mexico is a great trading partner for the U.S. There are a lot of mutual benefits for on both sides of the border for keeping the current NAFTA agreement in place. America currently imports most of its seafood from other countries. If a tariff were put in place for Mexican goods, the U.S. would end up with higher food prices and its citizens would see inflation in restaurant and grocery prices. It will be interesting to see what happens. There certainly seems to be tension rising between the two nations. You can sense that when you are on the ground in Mexico.
Of course, everyone would like certainty, which gives stability, but the reality is that it may take years to develop a new trade agreement. The original NAFTA, which became law in 1994, took years to put together, so I don’t anticipate any quick resolution. But what you will probably see is many more shots across the bow by President Trump, as demonstrated by the recent softwood lumber deal with Canada.
SeafoodSource: What is the best business advice you’ve been given and by whom?
Mahony: My dad always told me to "Do what you say, say what you do.”
