Castletownbere Fisherman's Co-op named Green Business of the Year
It was just like being inside Croke Park on All-Ireland final day when Castletownbere Fisherman’s Co-operative Society from West Cork won the Green Business of the Year award at a ceremony in Dublin.
That was the reaction of assistant manager Dónal O’Sullivan, on hearing that the co-op had overcome serious competition from a range of other competing companies including Flavahan’s, Kerry Group and Glanbia to take the prestigious award.
The co-op was also the proud recipient of the Green Seafood Business award, sponsored by BIM, the State’s seafood development agency. The other nominees here were Burren Smokehouse, Woodstown Bay Shellfish, and Irish Fish Canners.
Mr O’Sullivan said many people have put a lot of hard work into the Castletownbere co-op’s success over the years and he was delighted all the efforts were justified at the 2017 Green Awards, which recognise excellence in green practice across Ireland’s business community.
Founded in 1968 by a group of fishermen with the initial aim of buying fuel in bulk, the co-op has evolved and expanded to become a highly profitable business with a turnover of €60m last year and markets for its products worldwide.
Based on the south-west coast, adjacent to rich fishing grounds, it lands a high quality product direct from its own fleet of trawlers.
It operates its own processing plant, reducing the number of links in the supply chain from the fisherman to the customer.
Mr O’Sullivan said after over 40 years trading fish, the co-op is keenly aware of its responsibility to the local environment and its fishing resource.
“Working with BIM and our Green team has resulted in a 3.5% reduction in electricity usage and a 36% reduction in waste to landfill despite a production increase of nearly 400 tonnes.
“We installed solar panels late last year which are expected to save us €18,000 a year in electricity costs.
“All our fish are certified, traced and fished within EU quotas with many vessels certified to the Marine Stewardship Council and BIM’s Responsibly Sourced Standard,” he said.
Meanwhile, sustainability is a priority for BIM as it develops the seafood industry which contributes €1bn to the economy and employs over 11,000 people directly and indirectly, mostly in coastal communities.
Dónal Buckley — BIM’s director of business development and innovation — said sustainability is now a critical requirement for accessing higher premium markets and doing business with global food companies.
“BIM will continue to focus on positioning our seafood industry at the cutting edge of green business, enabling our businesses to adopt green business strategies that deliver in terms of competitive advantage, cost efficiencies and employee engagement.
“Considering that this is the second time in only three years that an Irish Seafood company has won the overall Green Award, there is no disputing the Irish seafood sector’s achievements and leadership in this field,” he said.
Island Seafoods, which is a family-owned and run business based just outside Killybegs, Co Donegal, was the overall winner in 2015. It also won the Gren Processor of the Year category at the inaugural BIM sea food industry awards last year.
This year’s overalll success of Castletownbere Fishermen’s Co-op reflects the position that it holds at the forefront of developing measures to improve environmental performance.
It has a very successful contract with Spanish retailer Mercadona, and last year ran a pilot project to reduce product packaging.
This project, which essentially reduced the use of plastic lids on polystyrene boxes, saved the company direct packing and transport costs and space on trucks to mainland Europe.
This storage method has now been rolled out across product exports which were to the value of €10m during 2016.
Castletownbere itself is Ireland’s largest white fish port. The port accounted for wild fish landings totalling 45,762 tonnes worth almost €113m in 2015.
There is also a significant level of aquaculture with 3,027 tonnes of farmed salmon being landed into the harbour in 2015.
The port is now poised for a major new infrastructural development after Minister Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, outlined his plans for a multi-phased project during a visit to Castletownbere last November.
It will almost double the length of pier space on Dinish Island to over 400 metres, in addition to providing a fit for purpose harbour administration building and associated works on the mainland.
He said the project is a direct response to the increase in fish landings into Castletownbere since the last major development became operational in 2010.
“We have seen a level of increased fishing activity that far exceeded any expectations with a 140% increase in the volume of fish landed and a 277% rise in the value of fish landed since between 2010 and 2015,” he said.
Mr Creed referred to the increased total tonnage of fish landed into Castletownbere from both the Irish fleet and fleets from other EU countries.
The increase in the number of landings by vessels from other EU fleets had increased by 242% since 2010.
This will create economic opportunities for the processing and supply industries to take advantage of and will over time build a larger and stronger marine economy in the Castletownbere area.
Mr Creed said he was committed to progressing a €21m Integrated Harbour Development Project to bring the facilities in Castletownbere to a standard that benfits Ireland’s premier white fish port.
It is expected all elements of the project will be completed by the middle of 2019.
“When completed the new facilities for the fishing industry and the wider seafood sector will be on a par with the best in Europe and will not only allow for a major expansion of the seafood, and other marine industries in the South-West but will also provide opportunities and further economic diversification,” said Mr Creed.
