Galicia’s Jealsa Rianxeira SAU Group has become the latest Member of the International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF), the non-profit association that is committed to developing and supporting responsible one-by-one tuna fisheries and supply chains.
Spanish family-owned Jealsa was founded in 1958, specialising in the manufacturing and marketing of canned fish and seafood. Today, the Boiro-based group comprises 26 companies with four key areas of activity: food, fishing and services, environment, and energy. It employs some 4,000 workers.
The group’s canned seafood brands include Rianxeira, Escurís, MareAperto, and Robinson Crusoe. Additionally, it supplies products for retailer Mercadona under the brand Hacendado. It also operates tuna vessels in the Atlantic.
Jealsa sources tuna caught with multiple gear types from around the world. For its pole-and-line products, the Atlantic Ocean is the main origin, but it also procures pole-and-line tuna from the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its main species is skipjack, followed by albacore.
“At Jealsa, we are committed to long-term sustainability, not only of fishing but also of fishing communities. Alliances with partners such as IPNLF are essential to us because together we can work to improve management of the fisheries.” says Ángeles Claro, Director of Sustainability at Jealsa.
Its commitment to the sustainability of resources is further demonstrated through its creation of a circular economy industry inside the organisation. This values the by-products that are generated by its activities.
Jealsa becomes IPNLF’s tenth Member from Spain.
Martin Purves, Managing Director of IPNLF, comments, “We are delighted to extend our Membership reach in Spain by welcoming Jealsa into the IPNLF community. It’s a very encouraging indication of the increased engagement of the European market that a group of such size and influence will be working with us.
Purves continues, “In an age of large-scale industrial fishing, it’s essential that small-scale fisheries secure as much support as possible so that they have the opportunity to thrive in current and future supply chains. Therefore, it’s the hope of our growing membership that many more businesses will make similar commitments to sustainable one-by-one tuna.”
Processing factory © Jealsa