Balfegó starts the 2024 fishing season

• Our fleet will capture an assigned quota of 3,087 tons and we will do so, for the first time, under the B Corp sustainability seal.

This May 26, 2024 began the annual fishing campaign for bluefin tuna (Thunnus Thynnus). We have just over a month (from May 26 to July 1) to capture the quota assigned to the different Spanish, French and Italian vessels that are part of our quota, which this year is estimated at 3,087 tons of the species. Specifically, we have 10 European vessels that supply bluefin tuna, including our vessels La Frau II and Tio Gel Segon, as well as 23 auxiliary.

This campaign is the first in which we come out under the B Corp sustainability seal, having become the first company in the Spanish fishing sector to achieve this month of March. Precisely, one of the many actions or measures adopted to obtain said certification has been the “Balfegó protocol”, currently unique in the purse seine fishery and a pioneer in animal welfare, safety and digitalization.

This protocol facilitates maneuvers and increases product quality ratios, in addition to providing greater safety to sailors during fishing tasks. Thus, it contemplates a maximum of three captures and transfers per day, the immediate transfer of the capture to the transport pool, and not capturing schools that are too large (with too many specimens). All of this also translates into a palpable increase in the eco-efficiency of the fleet and a reduction in its environmental impact, also ensuring the well-being of the animals.

Balfegó’s initiatives have served as an example in the inclusion of practices to improve the bluefin tuna fishery and control measures, such as the presence of independent observers on board – in this campaign they will be accompanied by nine members of the International Commission for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT)–. Likewise, fishing operations and the transfer of captured tunas between pools will be monitored by stereoscopic cameras that will allow the average weight of the catches to be accurately determined.

The entire team trusts that the weather will be favorable and allow them to work normally and without the need to remain at anchor for any day. It should be remembered that in the 2023 campaign, five days of effective fishing in the western Mediterranean were enough for our fleet to capture its assigned quota, a total of 2,830 tons, from the agreed trade agreements.

Furthermore, we hope that by the end of this year’s campaign the conflict of the State Maritime Fisheries inspectors, 167 workers in total, who have been demanding improvements in their safety, remuneration and the recognition that They do a job that requires 24 hours of availability. For us, the lack of availability of maritime fishing inspectors can delay and even block different maneuvers related to fishing, such as the entry of tuna into the company’s aquaculture facilities, which require their supervision and control, which could imply a restriction or impediment in the operation of the company.