At the end of September, the Pêche Avenir shipping line acquired a second freezer longliner for swordfish and tuna.. Laurent Virapoullé, its general manager, wants to go further by creating a fish processing workshop in the port.
Arrived in southern waters in 2002 to exploit the toothfish deposits of Kerguelen and Crozet, the Pêche Avenir company of the Virapoullé family displays new ambitions in tropical fishing. In 2014, he had bought – for 600,000 euros – six longliners built in China and whose Reunion owners had quickly gone bankrupt. The boats were not equipped with freezing equipment and their use for fresh fishing quickly proved unprofitable..
Pêche Avenir has transformed a first boat into a freezer longliner, the Clipperton, entered into operation in 2018. Since, year after year, 150 to 200 tonnes of swordfish and tuna arrive, processed locally and sold in mass distribution or exported to Spain. Building on this successful experience, Pêche Avenir has invested more than 1,2 million euros in the conversion into a freezer of a second 24-meter longliner, and Manohal.
With its 12 crew members, the ship left Pointe-des-Galets at the end of September for its first campaign. Goal : fill your holds, with a capacity of 40 tonnes, in 35 to 40 days at sea. Like the Clipperton, the Manohal will fish in the waters of the Scattered Islands, in Tromelin but especially in the islands of the Mozambique Channel : Bass of India, Juan de Nova, Europa and the Glorious, even if the extension of the marine reserve around the latter reduces the field of operation of fishermen. The French administration requires compliance with very strict specifications and Pêche Avenir hopes to obtain, with the support of the interprofessional organization Aripa, the MSC label which distinguishes sustainable fishing methods.
“We also applied for a fishing license in Malagasy waters, indicates Laurent Virapoullé, general director of Pêche Avenir. We will thus be able to go fishing off the east coast of Madagascar, which will reduce our travel times.” “If profitability is there, two additional boats will be transformed in the coming years”, adds Laurent Virapoullé, which hopes to even succeed in the shorter term – end of 2022 – another project. “With the Manohal, we will reach the critical size to equip ourselves with a processing workshop at the port, capable of processing at least 50 tonnes of fish and marketing them under our own brand, Sin for you », he announces.
