‘Partnerships with overseas retailers critical in helping fishing industry’
Castletownbere Fishermen’s Co-op is three years into its supply arrangement with Mercadona. It has recently signed a contract to supply 2,000 tonnes of whitefish annually to the Spanish supermarket chain, a €10m deal which directly supports 35 of its 80 local processing plant jobs.
The Mercadona contract offers stability to the 280 workers on board the West Cork co-op’s own fleet of 40 boats, plus huge numbers of others in indirect local employment. That stability is critical to both Mercadona and the local Castletownbere community.
