Fishery provides new jobs, expansion in West Africa
Hongdong’s operations in Mauritania offer employment opportunities for locals, establish end-to-end supply chain, Chen Meiling reports.
As the operator of China’s largest pelagic fishery base, Hongdong Fishery plans to provide another 1,000 jobs in Mauritania next year.
In 2010, the Fujian provinceheadquartered fishery giant signed a 50-year contract to build a large-scale fishery base in Nouadhibou of Mauritania, a country in West Africa, with a $200 million investment.
“We are not like other companies who just come here, catch all the fish and leave,” said Chen Zhongjie, board secretary of the company.
“We look to the long-term sustainable development of the local fishery industry,” he said.
The base contains a complete supply chain, including processing, production of fish meal and oil, refrigeration and sale, Chen said.
Mauritania has rich fish resources, with more than 80 species and products, mainly including octopus, cuttlefish and cod, according to Chen.
“However there were only small sailboats and no processing factories before we arrived,” he said.
Supportive facilities followed, including auxiliary equipment, refrigeration cabinets, shipyards, ice-making plants and oil depots, helping to form an endto-end national fishery industry.
Domestic and overseas markets have huge demand for seafood. Many countries are facing the exhaustion of their offshore fishing resources, Chen said.
The company stresses sewage treatment and resource protection, according to Chen, and fish shorter than 70 centimeters will not be caught.
Hongdong’s 169 ships can bring in 100,000 metric tons of fish every year, which are then exported to Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea.
Of the company’s 2,000 overseas employees, about 1,800 are local people, he said. Their monthly salary is about 2,000 yuan ($303), about 20 percent higher than the local average level, he said.
Hindou Mint Khartoun, a 23-year-old logistics worker at the Mauritanian branch, said she has learned much from her work — from classifying and packaging fish, to communication skills.
She has nine family members. Her father, husband and elder brother work elsewhere. Her four siblings are at school.
“I feel proud to work here,” she said. “Now I’m confident to tell others that I have the ability to work. When my family needs money, I can help to relieve the pressure on them.”
She said she has opened a store with her salary, which she runs after work.
Dekouma Med Yesslem, 24, joined Hongdong in 2013.
She has worked in the quality control department for about six months, learning how to examine the quality of the fish.
“I am quite satisfied with my job since I can buy goods for my family and raise my children with my own salary,” she said.
Chen said respect for local customs is important for localization.
The company has sponsored a marathon and gave employees fish on Eid al-Fitr, an important three-day holiday in the Islamic calendar that follows Ramadan, a month-long festival when Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset.
Hongdong is currently working on building a mosque opposite one of its plants, to provide broader space for religious activities, Chen said.
He added the company plans to establish three to five such bases in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia in the following three to five years.
Fujian, where Hongdong is based, generated 170.9 billion yuan in foreign trade with countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative in the first half of 2017, up 12.8 percent year-on-year, according to statistics released by Xiamen customs in July.
We look to the longterm sustainable development of the local fishery industry.”
Chen Zhongjie, board secretary of Hongdong Fishery