Seabass – Naturally Atlantico
Top: Naturally Atlantico is EU certified organic. Above: Rafael Bernardez
cleaner.’ As such, whilst bass and bream production in Spain as a whole is around 45 tonnes per employee, for Naturally Atlantico it’s around 100kg. ‘Because we are more effi cient’, says Bernardez. Of course it doesn’t really need to be pointed out to this read- ership that, as Bernardez states, ‘fi sh farming is not easy’. There are so many issues to deal with: fi sh mortality can occur through disease, or storms; ‘so many things can go wrong.’ But Bernardez has been fortunate enough that noth- ing, so far, has gone wrong. In fact, in terms of the quality of the fi sh,
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things are going very well indeed. ‘We set a target harvest weight of around 450g, which takes around 14-16 months’, he explains. ‘But our fi sh are being harvested at be- tween 450-600g.’ They also source their fi sh from Aquastream in France which, Bernardez believes, ‘has the best genetic selection.’ And, of course, they have tailored production to ensure they harvest all-year-round, in order to make sure of a consistent supply. ‘I have had feedback from Miche- lin-starred chefs that our seabass is the best they’ve ever tasted,’ says Bernardez, ‘and I would say 80 per cent of sales are due to the quality of the fi sh.’
Being organic is another reason
for this superior taste. ‘To get EU Organic certifi cation, the feed has to be 100 per cent organic’, he explains. ‘We get ours from a small company based in Northern Ire- land, Robert Hoey & Son, and it’s double the price of conventional feed.’ For organic certifi cation the stocking density must also be lim- ited from 25kg to 15kg per square metre. ‘Ours are stocked at only
6kg per square metre, and because the currents are strong, we have good, strong, elegant fi sh.’ However, in spite of all of this, Bernardez admits he is struggling to fi nd a market for his fi sh. His biggest customer is Waitrose in Spain, where 29 stores stock his seabass. But persuading people to pay a premium for a fi sh that can be bought cheaper elsewhere is no mean feat. Bernardez is also targeting the high-end markets of Europe and the US where, especially in restau- rants, people will pay for quality. He is currently in negotiations with the organisers of Madrid Fusion, where top chefs prepare food from around the world, to get Naturally Atlantico seabass as one of the ingredients. ‘This will be a huge boost to my marketing campaign.’ However, with the combination of Bernardez’s commercial know- how, and the proven quality of his seabass, there is no reason to doubt that Naturally Atlan- tico will be as successful as it deserves to be. FF
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com “
We set a
target weight of 450g, which takes around 14-16 months
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