Sapmer: 70 Years In Business, Now Major Turning Point

Boasting seven decades catching seafood, French born fishing firm, Sapmer SA, has rich history and recently flourishing financials, which it credits to a major strategic shift.

Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Paul David talks to Atuna about the company’s transition so far, and its plans for future growth, seeing transparency, and ‘the story’ behind its products as vital for future business.

Scotland born David has been with Sapmer for 10 years, enjoying his base now on the beautiful Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. He was born to a Scottish mother and Mauritian father, who instilled in him a love for the sea and seafood. Having worked first in the telecom industry his transition to the seafood sector came in 2000, when he began his own independent trading company, selling seafood from the Mediterranean to cafés and French restaurants throughout the UK.

David joined crab trading company, Phillipsfoods in 2006 as the Regional Sales Manager for Southern Europe, before joining Sapmer in 2009. This final step was more of a personal choice for him, not only keen for the “huge challenge” of Sapmer’s new tuna adventure, but also to get closer to his family and the home of his father.

Now based in Mauritius (at least for most of the time while he is not travelling) David’s day to day role, with the help of his team, involves managing the total sales and marketing of “high quality level products”, from whole round fish to “premium processed” tuna. He takes worldwide trips frequently to see customers or spends time in the company’s Reunion Island based office.

With decade long experience at Sapmer, he is confident in updating Atuna on the last 70 years of operations. David explains “it first started with an incredible human adventure….We have excellent crewmen originating from the Brittany region in France who have been working on our boats with precious knowledge that is passed on from one generation to the next.”

The company’s foundations were built on lobster and then toothfish catch, with tuna fishing being a later addition in the 2000’s. It is explained that the evolution was natural, “as these species are very close to our wild environment.”

With Mauritian headquarters and seiners operating in the South Indian Ocean, David’s passion for the region and its resources is obvious as he explains, “we are surrounded by wonderful waters from the Seychelles right down to the South French Antarctic Territories”. He emphasizes Sapmer’s “strong pioneering mindset”, which is part of its DNA, and according to him is still tangible within the team today.

Fast forward to now and the core of the business relies on Sapmer’s “excellent nine brand new super freeze purse seiners,” David explains. Five are flagged to France, two to Mauritius and two to the Seychelles, and together they land around 55,000 tons of tuna per year. He adds that these have opened a new market between sushi and brine segments for the company’s tuna catch.

Skipjack and yellowfin are the main species landed by Sapmer, caught by both free-school and FAD sets, but the company says it tries to prioritize free-school operations as much as possible. It sells its tuna catch mostly fresh and frozen, but recently also launched an ambient product line.

Growing to its position today has not been without challenges, and David admits that some “failures and necessary learning curves” were important hurdles. For each of its fisheries, the firm has been through sea explorations, he says, as well as scientific campaigns and tests, helping Sapmer to become “well recognized worldwide as a global partner for natural and premium seafood.”

One of the biggest dips for Sapmer along the way has been with its previously struggling financials. In 2014 it suffered significant losses, based on “a strong drop in the whole round tuna price.” In 2015 losses came again, with a “low cycle” in the tuna business partly credited to the performance.

However, in 2016, the company proudly revealed a return to profit, which spurred a sharp strengthening in investor confidence at the time, and listed stocks climbed notably. For the first six months of 2016, a profit of EUR 5.5 million was reached, up from EUR 3.5 million in losses for the first half of 2015.

Sapmer said that getting back into the green was partly pushed by a solid increase in whole round tuna sales, as well as improved operating conditions through a strategic plan that was initiated the previous year.

This plan and way of working has continued with Sapmer until today and will be the pillar of its future. The company focuses on processing only the highest quality, most premium portion of its landings. It works to catch “less but better” tuna, and any fish not meeting its high demands is sold whole round to other processors.

A shift to working in this way is important for the company’s “direct to consumer stores” – with two already in full flow on Reunion Island, and another planned for June opening in France. “This has taken up quite a bit of the focus” of David’s position, he says, explaining the “new objective” is to “get closer to the actual consumers and end users of our products.”

Demand for premium and sustainably caught tuna is increasing within the company’s target markets, says David, and these new stores are helping Sapmer to communicate directly with the customer the efforts it has been taking to deliver in both of these areas.

Buyers and consumers “need solid proof that fishing companies respect oceans”, he adds, and explains that the yellowfin quotas implemented in the Indian Ocean have helped to provide that. Although their enforcement comes from a negative situation in which yellowfin tuna is overfished in the region, they have provided positive opportunities for Sapmer, the company believes.

This “has been an important change as these are the first ever”, David stresses about the purse seine catch limits. “This is an excellent opportunity to carry on with our strategy – catch not necessarily more, but better.” It has helped Sapmer seiners to keep fishing for all of 2017, effectively managing its portion of quota, while other seiners had to tie up early last year.

This year, Sapmer’s management of the limit is only expected to strengthen as David explains that a quota for each purse seine trip has been allocated “to control the level of catch precisely”. The vessels it operates under Seychelles and Mauritius flag come under nations that must reduce catch by 15 percent. For the French flagged fleet, however, five percent reductions have been stipulated by the EU, based on the higher ratio of free-school sets from these seiners.

The quotas are “an asset” for the company, David asserts, as customers know the resources they are purchasing from are under control. He goes as far to say it has “opened new niche markets” and is pushing the firm to shorten its sales network by getting closer to the final consumer.

While for Sapmer the quotas have aided its image of sustainability among customers, the company has shown no signs to date of entering for MSC certification, something which David says it “would of course be happy” to achieve. The firm is already certified MSC for its toothfish fishery he stresses, but “there are steps to be passed” before the tuna aspect of operations are ready.

For David, the responsibility lies mostly with the RFMO, in this case the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), as he says improvements need to be made on stock status, while Harvest Control Rules (HCRs) must be adopted.

Believing it is taking some of its own initiative in this area, Sapmer explains its engagement in the Sustainable Indian Ocean Tuna Initiative; a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) with a few key aims:

To form collaboration with government, industry and fleets, to bring about sustainable improvements.

To address stock health, ecosystem health and management issues in the fishery.

To improve the fishery to a point at which it can undergo (and pass) full assessment by a credible, science-based, multi-stakeholder certification program like the MSC, by the end of March 2022.

While there have been some doubts over the true target of FIPs, and their intention to actually reach MSC assessment, Sapmer is keen to express that this is its ultimate goal, as has been with other parts of its operations. Another representative of the company previously told Atuna that the yellowfin quotas in the IO will only help it with this target. He also indicated the firm could be waiting for the outcome of the Echebastar Indian Ocean fleet’s own MSC pursuit, as well as the next IOTC stock assessment, to see if it may have a chance to gain MSC.

As well as sustainability being key, for David Sapmer’s full transparency is an extra dimension that will shape the future direction of tuna sales.

In this regards, the story behind the tuna is important for the firm’s Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, as he says that customers are “more and more demanding on the quality and the origin of the products”. According to David full transparency will increasingly be requested, with proof that the natural environment, people and products are dealt with respect at every stage of the chain – in a sustainable and responsible manner.

Believing that Sapmer’s ‘direct to consumer’ stores obviously allow the company to tell the true story behind every fish caught, he is convinced that those who already provide this level of traceability “will clearly have an advantage” in the industry.

The focus ahead in terms of Sapmer’s products will be “developing a new range that includes both ambient and fresh segments”, David explains. This comprises a line that was showcased at the recent Seafood Expo in Brussels, where the company focuses on value-added and premium products, under the “Les Comptoirs Sapmer” brand. “We have worked with research/development consultants and our customers to achieve these new products,” David says proudly.

He reiterates that when Sapmer first entered the tuna industry 10 years ago its -40 degree freezing quality “was unknown”. Today, David says the firm distributes to 30 countries with important shares in Europe and Japan. “The first step to create a market for our specific quality was accomplished.”

Now he states that Sapmer is selling under its own brand and developing direct sales along with its existing markets, which is the main focus. “We are getting closer to our customers; improving our customer relationships; understanding and being able to bring what they need – premium and sustainable products.”

David stresses that Sapmer puts all efforts into its new strategy, which is reaping results. It consists of moving away from being a basic commodity supplier, with the creation of value added products sold in “fine fish shops”.

Taking this new approach into the core of its everyday business, Sapmer plans to boost profitability on two fronts. One is through the fishing operation – thanks to technology and digital equipment to help optimize its catch. The second within downstream business; “as all our fisheries are now under quotas, we do not have many options to boost our profitability,” David explains. “We will carry on with adding more and more value to our products.”

Stressing again that “sustainability is crucial” to its customers, it is clear that MSC certification is the important target and could be vital for this company, as its own end markets demand it more and more. Whether it will be achieved by or before the deadline of March 2022 is yet to be seen, but David shows confidence that Sapmer is making strong steps to ensure it.