... Jamaicans riding the wave

LOCAL CUSTOMERS have also been riding the fresh-fish wave, much to the delight of B&D Trawling.

“That’s the quality we’ve been delivering in our outlet, and I think that’s why people have been really gravitating towards us. Even though we are new on the local market, people have been really supporting the new outlet. We have fresh fish here on a daily basis and you can get your packaged products in the Sea Best brand which is packaged from the fresh fish. What other people will do is buy frozen fish and they will fillet or process it and then refreeze it. But every time you thaw a fish and refreeze it, you lose quality,” businessman Roderick Francis said.

“So the difference with ours is, it’s only frozen once. When the customer takes it home and refrigerates it and the only time you thaw it is when you are going to eat it, that’s the difference in how we achieve the quality that the customers seem to love.”

Pressed by The Gleaner about the challenge of meeting the demand for a growing market, Francis spoke about the issue of the company being environmentally responsible.

“It’s always a challenge; but everything that we do, we want to do it with sustainability [in mind]. So we [are] not going to go out and, say, overfish this area. We are going to do it properly and ensure that [we] only take a sustainable amount, and that [we] leave enough so that the fish can breed.”