Southern Star Seafood Pty Ltd, a Fijian company with over 30 years of experience in wholesaling and exporting live seafood, has secured a deal to export live seafood to San Francisco.
Business Development Director, Edmond Wong says they are very excited to be exporting live seafood to San Francisco starting with live mud crabs, fish, slipper lobsters, and lobsters.
Wong says they believe that there is a strong demand for high-quality, live seafood in the US market, and they are confident that their products will meet the high standards of their customers.
He says no company has exported live seafood from Fiji since 2006 and they are the first company granted the licence with strict conditions.
The Director says they communicated with various Ministries and departments such as Fiji BioSecurity, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Fisheries.
He says the company had to meet a number of requirements, including having a state-of-the-art live seafood holding facility and complying with all environmental and food safety regulations.
He says they are committed to sustainable fishing practices and are working with local fishermen to promote day fishing and one-line one-hook fishing, which are both more sustainable methods of fishing.
Southern Star Seafood Pty Ltd is confident that its success will pave the way for other Fijian companies to export seafood to the global market.
Investment Fiji Chief Executive Officer, Kamal Chetty says it was great to have Southern Star Seafood Pty Ltd exporting live seafood to export to Hong Kong and USA.
Chetty says this is a major milestone for the company and for the Fijian economy, as this export is a sign of the growing confidence of the Fijian seafood industry and its ability to compete in international markets.
