Thousands of pounds of tuna sold at EC$3

General Manager of the Southern Fishermen Association, James Nicholas, said that more than 5 000 pounds of tuna were sold last Friday after the company disclosed that it had to reduce the cost to around 60 per cent because it had to create room for new stocks.

“We had so many fish in our freezer and every day fishermen are providing us with more; we realised that if they were not sold, we will have to dump some to make way for new stock, so the decision to reducing it to that price was the final attempt to provide consumers with an opportunity to purchase good fish at a reduced price,” he said.

General Manager of the Southern Fishermen Association, James Nicholas.

Initially, the company had reduced the price to EC$5, but that did not result in the anticipated increase in purchases because it was felt that the fish was not of good quality.

“However, when I explained that the fish was good and the only problem was that it did not meet the standard for export that many came forward and purchased,” said Nicholas, who explained that it was a chaotic scene last Friday at his company’s headquarters in Grand Mal.

“We were not prepared for that rush, it took us by surprise as hundreds flocked and thousands of pounds were sold. By the time we checked the freezer, the amount set aside for the sale was cleared out and as a result, by Saturday morning the price was EC$5 per pound,” he said.

“Even with that increased price of EC$5, we had a lot of persons coming in and purchase because they realise it was good quality fish.”

Nicholas said that 48 per cent of the tuna fish caught by fishermen locally are not able to be exported because of a combination of factors, which affect the quality from catching them in the sea to delivering them to the major buyer.

“Yes fish is a major export and it brings in good foreign exchange, but what we realise is that old fishermen with bad fishing practice are not understanding and putting into practice the initiatives for good quality, thus we have most of it remaining in Grenada instead of getting exported,” he said.

“It’s for this reason we had and will continue to have so much tuna in our freezer and have to come up with innovative ways to sell the stocks locally and in this case, it worked for us,” he said.