The Group's Operations
WILD-CAPTURE FISHING
The Sea Harvest Group catches, processes and markets: Cape hake, horse mackerel, pilchards, anchovies, and prawns from South Africa, as well as Shark Bay, and Exmouth prawns together with Spanish mackerel and Fish Trawl from Western Australia. These are premium wild-caught species that have become highly sought-after in local and international markets
SOUTH AFRICA
Cape hake, Cape horse mackerel, pilchards, anchovies, tuna and prawns are caught off the coasts of South Africa in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Fishing takes place 15 to 120 nautical miles from the shore at depths of up to 800m, using Sea Harvest’s own fleet of wet fish trawlers, factory freezer trawlers and purse-seine vessels.
The Sea Harvest fleet consists of 36 factory freezer and wet fish trawlers, which operate out of Cape Town, Saldanha Bay on the Cape west coast, Durban and Mossel Bay on the southern coast of South Africa. On fresh fish trawlers, fish are headed and gutted at sea and packed on ice for delivery to the company’s shore-based processing facilities, locking in taste and texture. Sea Harvest’s state-of-the-art factory freezer trawlers catch and immediately process and freeze the fish into a range of frozen-at-sea products, including fillets, headed & gutted (H&G), other by-catch species and premium fishmeal.
A wide range of plain, coated and crumbed fillets, loins and steaks, as well as other value-added seafood products, are produced at the company’s land-based processing facilities. These facilities are located in Cape Town, Saldanha Bay and Mossel Bay and have a combined capacity to produce 40 000 tons of fish.
Visit www.seaharvest.co.za to view our extensive wild-caught seafood product range.
AUSTRALIA
Sea Harvest Australia owns 25 prawn, 20 Spanish mackerel and 5 fish trawl licences in Shark Bay, Exmouth, Port Samson and Darwin in Western Australia and Northern Territory. Our three distinct business lines in Australia include: our fish trawl business that operates in the Kimberley and Pilbara areas, focusing on wild-caught fish, which are either frozen onboard or sold fresh; our prawn business that comprises separate operations in Exmouth and Carnarvon, each managed independently; and our trading business that, while primarily centred on hake from South Africa, plays a crucial role in our Australian operations. The western king prawns (Penaeus latisulcatus) and brown tiger prawns (Penaeus esculentus) caught by Sea Harvest Australia are graded by size, plate frozen at sea and packed into market-ready packaging onboard the vessels.
Trip lengths for the prawn trawlers are in the region of 22 days, thereafter the fleet returns to port to offload at the start of every full moon closure of the fishery. The fishery is based on an input control management framework. This includes permanent and temporarily closed areas, spatial and temporal controls (including moon closures) to manage the fishing effort and achieve environmental sustainability objectives.
Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) is a white, firm fish that has darker meat and are one of the tastiest of the Mackerel family. The catch is processed into frozen fillets onboard the Spanish mackerel vessels, which are Export registered (including the EU), and are marketed both locally and internationally for the world to share the seafood provenance of the north west of Australia.
Sea Harvest Australia also has an engineering division that operates out of Freemantle Harbour in Perth. It provides engineering services to the fishing business and other third-party clients.
Aquaculture
Sea Harvest Aquaculture, includes a majority share in Aqunion, one of the world’s leading abalone farming businesses, which consists of a union of three well-known South African abalone businesses (Roman Bay Sea Farm, Aquafarm Development and SPP Canning). Sea Harvest Aquaculture harnesses the skills and expertise of southern Africa’s foremost aquaculturists to produce a complete basket of seafood products for local and international markets.
Sea Harvest Aquaculture’s operations are spread across southern Africa:
- A species of abalone (Haliotis midae), which is endemic to South Africa and highly valued in Eastern cultures, are grown at eight farms in the southern Cape and on the Diamond Coast.
For more information visit http://www.vikingaquaculture.co.za
VALUE-ADDED DAIRY
Sea Harvest Group offers a basket of dairy products through its wholly-owned subsidiaries of Ladismith Cheese and Mooivallei Suiwel. Ladismith Cheese is located in the picturesque towns of Ladismith, and Mooivallei in Bonnievale, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.
Ladismith Cheese’s primary business is the production, distribution, marketing and sale of value-added dairy products to the South African retail, wholesale, foodservice and food ingredients markets. It has cheese, powder and butter factories and a fleet of tankers that collect milk from a dedicated group of farmers located in the Western and Eastern Cape. This milk is processed into gouda, cheddar, mozzarella and edam cheese, as well as various types of powdered milk, butters and spreads. The company also has distribution depots in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Foar more information on Ladismith Cheese Company visit http://www.ladismithcheese.co.za/ and https://www.mooivallei.co.za/.
CONVENIENCE FOODS
Sea Harvest, through its majority share in the BM Foods Group, manufactures and distributes a range of chilled and frozen products. Categories include convenience foods, bakery and dairy products, which are marketed and sold to local retail and foodservice markets. Brands under the Convenience Foods range include Mediterranean Delicacies, Judy’s Preserves, Chelsea Pies and Bettafresh. BM Foods Group also holds a 20% shareholding in Alliance Foods, a broad-based ambient foodservice importer and distributor.
WHERE WE OPERATE
The Sea Harvest Group is a fishing, aquaculture and food business with operations in South Africa and Australia.
