Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome. Thank you for joining us again
Speaker 1: on Seafood Matters Today I'm chatting with Manuel Vasquez. Manuel
Speaker 1: is the CEO of Bacha Aqua Farms. Hello, Manuel, and
Speaker 1: welcome to Seafood Matters. Great to have you on the show.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, jam and thank you for the invitation.
Speaker 2: And good morning everyone, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: If I could maybe start, how has the global demand
Speaker 1: for premium bluefin tuna evolved over the last decade and
Speaker 1: how is Bacha Aqua Farms positioning itself to meet these
Speaker 1: change in consumer needs.
Speaker 2: Ah, yeah, great question, Jim. I think it's been a
Speaker 2: really good business for those who have been on the bluefin.
Speaker 2: Over the last decade. We've seen a change in consumer habits,
Speaker 2: mainly from I would say the last generation, which was
Speaker 2: treating the product just as a commodity. Now we realize
Speaker 2: how important is that product in a different type of
Speaker 2: restaurants and sushi outlets. Obviously that comes with a different
Speaker 2: type of product as well, because now you see consumers
Speaker 2: requesting a different set of organ electic attributes into the bluefin.
Speaker 2: And at the same time, obviously we see a tremendous
Speaker 2: opportunity of growth in those new niches and new segments
Speaker 2: that are over and above of what we had before.
Speaker 2: As a quote on the bluefin space as well, so
Speaker 2: to put it on a nutshell on the last ten years,
Speaker 2: there was this stigma on bluetin as well, because we
Speaker 2: were an industry that it was having a kind of
Speaker 2: dangerous pieces, and for over a decade we had very
Speaker 2: tough controls on the amount of fish that we could
Speaker 2: get out of the ocean. Finally, last year, for the
Speaker 2: first time in a decade, all the scientific community from
Speaker 2: the West and the East got together and then they
Speaker 2: realized that actually the targets and the abundance of biomass
Speaker 2: in the ocean was over and above of the objectives
Speaker 2: that we were supposed to achieve within the next five years.
Speaker 2: And as a result of that, for the first time
Speaker 2: in many years, they gave us a quota increase of
Speaker 2: fifty percent quote increase. As you can imagine, it was
Speaker 2: a big challenge for all companies because then you need
Speaker 2: to increase your structure and infrastructure in order to embrace
Speaker 2: that volume. And at the same time, obviously you need
Speaker 2: to develop a market that is there, but it still
Speaker 2: needs to be educated and needs to be positioned with
Speaker 2: the right product and priced. So all these just to
Speaker 2: summarize that. Indeed, the last decade has been good, but
Speaker 2: the last two years I would say were extremely better
Speaker 2: than what we have seen. And obviously we have a
Speaker 2: very positive outlook for the years to come.
Speaker 1: That's very encouraging. I would love to come back to that.
Speaker 1: But if I could, just before that, ask you what
Speaker 1: was your background before joining bach Arco Farms.
Speaker 2: Well, for many years I worked for Nesley, you know
Speaker 2: the chuck I played, milch and a beverage company. I
Speaker 2: actually started my career over there more than twenty five
Speaker 2: years ago. I worked for them in Mexico, Panama, Ghana, Switzerland, Singapore,
Speaker 2: back to Mexico, then Dubai for a while back to Mexico,
Speaker 2: and then with that just finished the first twenty years
Speaker 2: of my life with them, doing many things. As you know,
Speaker 2: Nesle is a big corporation that goes some foods and beverage,
Speaker 2: so it was a big school for me, even changing
Speaker 2: roles within during these years from finance to commercial. Then
Speaker 2: I left the company and then I went into tuna. First,
Speaker 2: I started in the yellowfin industry with one of the
Speaker 2: main companies that is called Tuni in Mexico, and later
Speaker 2: on I went to work for Atundolore, which is the
Speaker 2: largest tuna fishing company, I would say in Latin America.
Speaker 2: So over there I leland the ropes on the seafood
Speaker 2: and the fishing and the tuna. And then just by coincidence,
Speaker 2: I was invited to go back to coffee for a while,
Speaker 2: and with that I finished my yellow fiend experience. After
Speaker 2: two years of being in the coffee again, finally I
Speaker 2: got this call three years ago and then I madly
Speaker 2: fell in love of culture and what you know is
Speaker 2: now Bajack of arms. So I'm here to here with
Speaker 2: the company away for three years. At that point of time,
Speaker 2: we were going through as an transision also in terms
Speaker 2: of shareholders, so it was really a nice time for
Speaker 2: me to join the company and then go with these
Speaker 2: new transition of owners and obviously a strategy for the company. Ah.
Speaker 2: I'm also a Mexican national. My background is in finance.
Speaker 2: And then I went to study in Chicago Bull and
Speaker 2: Gellog for some m b A and marketing degrees, and
Speaker 2: as you know, going around all these places, I also
Speaker 2: managed to collect a number of different languages to speak,
Speaker 2: and that's it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's your life. From what you see there madeo
Speaker 1: lb tuna and I would start by it made sound
Speaker 1: as if I'm trying to catch here, but I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put my hand up and admit my own
Speaker 1: neg ignos on the subject in unfashioned all my life.
Speaker 1: But there's just no to there or anything like that
Speaker 1: or waters. There's a big difference between yellow fan and
Speaker 1: blue fen.
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely biologically speaking, they don't even look the same,
Speaker 2: but even in the way that they behave and the
Speaker 2: habitat that they have is also different. The yellow fin
Speaker 2: is on tropical waters, which is going out the equator
Speaker 2: and a little bit above them below, but that's normally
Speaker 2: the place that they have it. Then the blue find
Speaker 2: for difference, is normally on the north or really south,
Speaker 2: much closer to cold waters rather than to tropical waters.
Speaker 2: And it's having a completely different migration pattern which starts
Speaker 2: in Japan and cross all the Pacific on the North
Speaker 2: Current to California and co goes down all the way
Speaker 2: to Encinada and then back again, So that migration pattern
Speaker 2: is completely different from yellow fin. Yellowfin is normally associated
Speaker 2: to dolphins, so you will see a school of dolphins
Speaker 2: together with yellowfin. As a result of that, obviously there
Speaker 2: is a completely different technique and the way to catch
Speaker 2: and capture that fash. In the case of blue fin,
Speaker 2: it is not associated to dolphins. It is much more
Speaker 2: associated to sudin, which is obviously what they eat.
Speaker 1: So okay.
Speaker 2: And then in terms of industry, you recognize yellow fin
Speaker 2: going in a can, so that's normally the way that
Speaker 2: consumer understands the product, and bluefin we normally take it
Speaker 2: out of a can and we put it on a
Speaker 2: different type of plates, starting from sushi, sushimi and nowadays
Speaker 2: the most sophisticated places that you can imagine on white
Speaker 2: table restaurants around the world.
Speaker 1: Okay, So if you see it in a Japanese restaurant,
Speaker 1: it's bluefin.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because of the taste and the fat content that
Speaker 2: you can find, specifically in the case of blue fin,
Speaker 2: it tends to it fatten. And this is how even
Speaker 2: they got this name. On the different parts of the
Speaker 2: body of a fresh that came from the Japanese culture,
Speaker 2: so we call toro o toro, which is like the
Speaker 2: lower part of the loin or the belly loin as
Speaker 2: we call it. Then you have the tchutuo anakami, which
Speaker 2: is the side loins and the upper part of the loin,
Speaker 2: which in terms of the fat content, is a completely
Speaker 2: different color and fat that you can see on the flesh.
Speaker 2: In the case of the yellow fin, since the swimming
Speaker 2: patterns are completely different, they don't develop that much fat,
Speaker 2: so you will have a very lean flash and that
Speaker 2: lean flesh obviously is having a different color and a
Speaker 2: different taste completely.
Speaker 1: It's really interesting. That's really interesting, I would imagine, I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's Before I was going to ask
Speaker 1: you about the difference in the flavors, I would have
Speaker 1: thought from the weird described that the bluefin with more
Speaker 1: fat would have been tisty. But are they not. Are
Speaker 1: they just completely different. There's not a case that one
Speaker 1: is better than the other. They're just different.
Speaker 2: They're just different. Obviously, the fact that you have that
Speaker 2: fat content a different taste, and because it takes a
Speaker 2: different taste, is a bit more sophisticated in the way
Speaker 2: to prepare it, because you need to obviously take advantage
Speaker 2: of these organ elyptic features that you already have on
Speaker 2: the fish. And also as a result of that, there
Speaker 2: is also a price difference, right, because of the limited
Speaker 2: quantity that you have. Is a bit like diamonds, right,
Speaker 2: So you don't have many, So then it's just economic
Speaker 2: rules demand and supply. If you don't really have a
Speaker 2: lot of supply, obviously price goes high. Is a bit
Speaker 2: the way that it works.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're very fast swimmers, are there to.
Speaker 2: Believe, Yes, yes they do. They swim long distances and
Speaker 2: really really fast. However, they tend to be in the coast,
Speaker 2: need the coast because of the way that they eat
Speaker 2: Saudi and this is where we manage to spot that fish.
Speaker 2: And what we do is a technique not to actually
Speaker 2: fish it, but to capture. So what we do is
Speaker 2: a set where we throw the net, we capture the fish,
Speaker 2: and we try not to stress it. That's probably the
Speaker 2: most complicated part of it. Then we bring a pen
Speaker 2: that is connected to the net and then we transfer
Speaker 2: the fish into a pen. Thereafter then we are towing
Speaker 2: that pen into our farm. Normally we are feeding that
Speaker 2: fish for as much as one year. During that period
Speaker 2: of time, we are one of the farms, or probably
Speaker 2: the only farm around the world that is having a
Speaker 2: centralized fitting system. And what I mean be that. Imagine
Speaker 2: that you have one vessel in the middle of the
Speaker 2: farm and you have twenty pens connected to that vessel.
Speaker 2: On that vessel we bring all the sudding that we
Speaker 2: are fishing every day, and from that vessel we are
Speaker 2: pumping the sudding into the pens three times a day
Speaker 2: to society. We also have cameras inside every single pen
Speaker 2: at three different levels of debt. With those cameras, we
Speaker 2: are monitoring with artificial intelligence, the behavior of the fish,
Speaker 2: how much they eat, how they move, and this is
Speaker 2: how an operator on this centralized feeding system is pumping
Speaker 2: the right amount of booth. So then we grow that
Speaker 2: fash systematically to have what we call a steady size,
Speaker 2: a steady supply, anesthetic quality, which is the first value
Speaker 2: proposition that we bring to all our consumers.
Speaker 1: Very sophisticated operation.
Speaker 2: It is becoming very much sophisticated. It was not like this,
Speaker 2: I must say. You know, we were one of the
Speaker 2: few companies that twenty five years ago we started shoveling
Speaker 2: sudding into the fans really hate as you do. A
Speaker 2: stell have farms in Japan and many other places around
Speaker 2: the world. In our cases, we came to this level
Speaker 2: of sophistication as a result of obviously the engineering and
Speaker 2: the necessity of bringing an upgrade into the whole industry.
Speaker 2: So we started mimicking this idea from the salmon, which
Speaker 2: is not a secret or most of the salmon farms
Speaker 2: operate somehow like this. In our case, it was much
Speaker 2: more challenging because we don't fit with pellets, we don't
Speaker 2: fit with any artificial food. We just fit with souding
Speaker 2: on percent souding on the percent fresh not even frozen sadin.
Speaker 2: So in in our case it was much more challenging
Speaker 2: to have an engineering system that it was able to
Speaker 2: support the quality of the southing without destroying it. As
Speaker 2: you might not. Souding is composed eighty percent by water
Speaker 2: on the body mass composition, so if you don't treat
Speaker 2: the souding well, you will destroy it immediately and as
Speaker 2: a result of that, even the tuna will not eat it,
Speaker 2: so it will be a waste of food. So even
Speaker 2: in that particular case, we've been very meticulous in the
Speaker 2: way that the technology has been evolving and constructed and
Speaker 2: adapted to our tuna farm.
Speaker 1: When you're when you're sitting there taking me wonder, it's
Speaker 1: obviously not the same as what we would class as
Speaker 1: a traditional farm. Maybe some here or they would have
Speaker 1: the small motors as we call them, and they would
Speaker 1: feed them and they would grow and get heavier. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's it's not quite the same, are you
Speaker 1: are you still want to feed them to get to
Speaker 1: odd with puld them.
Speaker 2: Right now, as I was telling you, we really changed
Speaker 2: the rules on how the industry was behaving. Still two
Speaker 2: years ago, I can tell you that there were few
Speaker 2: companies in Mexico and they were all going out with
Speaker 2: their own vessels trying to get as much fish as
Speaker 2: possible because we had this system that is called Olympic fishing.
Speaker 2: So what it tells you is that you get out
Speaker 2: and get as much fish as you can get in
Speaker 2: the least amount of time. It's like giving a ball
Speaker 2: of eminem's to a bunch of kids and then tell
Speaker 2: them to eat as much. So you can imagine that
Speaker 2: it was a bit of a disaster, right. So but
Speaker 2: that change finally two years ago we enter into a
Speaker 2: new dynamic with the whole industry. And right now what
Speaker 2: we are doing is to catch the bigger fish, so
Speaker 2: there's no rush. Everyone is having their own take, and
Speaker 2: because of that, we just changed completely the rules of
Speaker 2: the game and the rules of engagement. Today we don't
Speaker 2: get any fish below eighty kilo, so a juvenile is
Speaker 2: considered on the twenty five kilos, just to give you
Speaker 2: an example, that was the case before. Today we are
Speaker 2: just getting adults. So we are getting adults at eighty
Speaker 2: kilo and then what we are doing is to fatten
Speaker 2: those adults. And then we just converted that fish from
Speaker 2: etikilo to probably hundred hundred and ten until we have
Speaker 2: that good fat content that I was talking to you about, yeah,
Speaker 2: and then the fish is ready to hit the places.
Speaker 2: This is not a growth period, it's actually a fattening period.
Speaker 2: And that's why obviously it requires much less auding, it
Speaker 2: requires obviously less working capitals if we want to talk
Speaker 2: about the business, and obviously much more sustainable in all right, So,
Speaker 2: which is the main thing that we want to achieve
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, So we get a
Speaker 2: bit fished, that is requiring less audin, that is also
Speaker 2: requiring less time to fatten. And then at the end
Speaker 2: of the day that is also closing the cycle on
Speaker 2: the reproduction way to make sure that is reproducing several
Speaker 2: times before it is actually getting out of the water,
Speaker 2: which is what we want to achieve. And by doing
Speaker 2: all these steps right, then we have a much healthier industry.
Speaker 2: We have obviously a company that this requires hiring less
Speaker 2: working capital, and we are a company that is obviously
Speaker 2: much more sustainable of what we were already.
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, I don't know if the tuna is the
Speaker 1: same as let's say, well our traditional fish. If I
Speaker 1: was to be asked what my favorite cut is and
Speaker 1: what part of the fish, every time, I would say
Speaker 1: the belly, you have a glu choice. Would that be
Speaker 1: the same tuna?
Speaker 2: I think it depends on the balladar, honestly speaking, you
Speaker 2: will see, especially in Japan, is highly overpriced. The belly
Speaker 2: is really about that, you know, they call it the
Speaker 2: toro and toro this is really the part that they
Speaker 2: like the most. But if you go to other places
Speaker 2: like Brazil, Mexico, Middle East, even some part of the US,
Speaker 2: they don't really see that part of the belly as
Speaker 2: something that it will be as lightful as probably another
Speaker 2: part of the body of the tuna. That's the true.
Speaker 2: So that's a challenge going forward for the company to
Speaker 2: do that market segmentation right, because if we do that right,
Speaker 2: that this means that a tuna should be cut in
Speaker 2: pieces to the light consumers in a very different way,
Speaker 2: and it's coming over from the same tuna. But if
Speaker 2: you're able to name it and labeled correctly, then you
Speaker 2: will have obviously an advantage in sending the right product
Speaker 2: with the right price to the right consumer.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, we are seeing a move towards conscious consumerism.
Speaker 1: How does the demand for tresability and sustainability and high
Speaker 1: end markets like Japan and America dictate your daily operations
Speaker 1: in Mexico, Club.
Speaker 2: Well, you mess a great question because I'm telling you
Speaker 2: know the whole company all the time that sustainability is
Speaker 2: on every decision that we made every day. It's not
Speaker 2: just a label or something that we want to achieve
Speaker 2: or something that we write on a piece of paper,
Speaker 2: but it is on every decision that we made. And
Speaker 2: it's true, it comes with a cost, and it comes
Speaker 2: with behaving also in a different way. Just to give
Speaker 2: you some examples on what sustainability means for Baja to
Speaker 2: start with, just told you the story on how we've
Speaker 2: had to change completely the way the industry operated you know,
Speaker 2: before going from Olympic fishing into now a more civilized
Speaker 2: way of fishing as I describe it, and then as
Speaker 2: a result, changing from twenty five kilowfish to eighty kilowfish,
Speaker 2: just in the way that we get out of the water.
Speaker 2: Top of that, the investments that are around the farm,
Speaker 2: in the way that we feed those fish. If I
Speaker 2: go even one step behind, every single fish that we
Speaker 2: take out of the water, even before we take it
Speaker 2: out of the water, there is two observers on each
Speaker 2: of our vessels writing every single thing that we do.
Speaker 2: So every single set that we do is registered by
Speaker 2: these two observers. One of these is the OBSERVERCE corresponds
Speaker 2: to the Mexican government to Conapesca in this case, and
Speaker 2: the other observer corresponds to ADDC, which is the Inter
Speaker 2: American Tuna Tropical Commission, and that's a regulated around the
Speaker 2: world that is checking that we do things the right way.
Speaker 2: So these two persons are registering on the books every
Speaker 2: single set on the amount of tones, on the coordinates
Speaker 2: that the fishes, and because of that, we are able
Speaker 2: to label that fish that goes into our pen. As
Speaker 2: a result of that, whenever we told those fish to
Speaker 2: our farm and grow that fish. We have identify that
Speaker 2: fish from the minute that we had that set in
Speaker 2: the vessel and through the period that we fought on
Speaker 2: the fish. We are still identifying every single piece that
Speaker 2: we have on the water because it goes on every
Speaker 2: single report that we give to the authorities on a
Speaker 2: monthly basis. Once we get that fish out of the water,
Speaker 2: the first thing that we do is to put a
Speaker 2: QR on the mouth with all the trace ability system
Speaker 2: that I just explained to you from the very origin,
Speaker 2: from the minute that we actually did the set till
Speaker 2: the minute that we took the fish out of the water,
Speaker 2: and thereafter, if we are sending this fish to whatever
Speaker 2: place in the world is, then the consumer will have
Speaker 2: the ability just to scan that QR and know what
Speaker 2: it is back to back the whole traceability chain. So
Speaker 2: all the things that I've described to require a lot
Speaker 2: of technology investment, innovation, equipment, gapex and many things that
Speaker 2: obviously consumer doesn't see, but for the company are important
Speaker 2: to achieve in order to make sure that we are
Speaker 2: here for many more years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's Dummer above and the global economy, how do
Speaker 1: you balance a high cost of sustainable Turner ranch in
Speaker 1: with the markets fluctuate and price points.
Speaker 2: Well, Jen, we are trying to get out of that
Speaker 2: fluctuation of price points. I think the most important part
Speaker 2: is that you take your product out of the commodity
Speaker 2: environment and that you are able actually to go to
Speaker 2: the higher end of the pyramid, which is the premium
Speaker 2: and even I would say it's super premium. In order
Speaker 2: to do that, this is why we invest so much
Speaker 2: into technology, product development, and even the way that we
Speaker 2: feed the fish. So I told you before that the
Speaker 2: first value proposition that we have is steady supply, steady size,
Speaker 2: and steadic quality. But we have some others which goes
Speaker 2: even with the temperature, with color of retention, with the flavor,
Speaker 2: with the fact that we are the only company around
Speaker 2: the world that is feeding on hundred percent sudding and
Speaker 2: one hundred percent fresh, that changed the flavor of the fish. Obviously,
Speaker 2: if you give any other type of even antibiotics, some
Speaker 2: of the companies are doing is going against the nature,
Speaker 2: trying to have affect that is in nature good right.
Speaker 2: So we are getting rid of all these things and
Speaker 2: trying to go to a space where we are alone
Speaker 2: with consumer and because we are alone with the consumer,
Speaker 2: then obviously we are not facing this type of price pluctuations,
Speaker 2: but we are obviously making a value proposition that is
Speaker 2: going over and above our competitors.
Speaker 1: I would say, Manuel, they're pretty, They're very you're tuned,
Speaker 1: are very lucky, whether they're feeding on sardines.
Speaker 2: We are blessed. And one of the things is obviously
Speaker 2: the strategic vision that even our founders have many years ago,
Speaker 2: which was to erect a company with these type of
Speaker 2: values and thinking. But the other thing that I must
Speaker 2: also confess is that we are blessed because of the
Speaker 2: location that we are. There is only four places in
Speaker 2: the world around the world that are having this abundance
Speaker 2: of Saudi and we are happen to be really at
Speaker 2: the end of the California Current, which is known because
Speaker 2: of its abundance on Saudi. So Saudin for us is there,
Speaker 2: and we are blessed to happen to reach the southern
Speaker 2: in a very short distance, so hence we can get
Speaker 2: it fresh, hence we can get it for a very
Speaker 2: competitive price, and hence we can continue feeding the tuna
Speaker 2: in the most natural way that it would happen as
Speaker 2: if they were white.
Speaker 1: And I'm not going to say there's nichere, commented, it's
Speaker 1: obviously niches and everything, but it's a seasonal any part
Speaker 1: of it the cycle, I would.
Speaker 2: Say, the tuna capturing, you can call it seasonal because,
Speaker 2: as I said, the water needs to be cold, So
Speaker 2: you will normally find this fish mostly between February and June,
Speaker 2: and then probably again you will see it in September December,
Speaker 2: which is normally when the water is getting colder during
Speaker 2: that part of the year. Obviously they are migrating to
Speaker 2: different temperatures. We don't know indeed where they are going,
Speaker 2: but two times of the year, what we identify that
Speaker 2: the fish is really near to the coast of Mexico,
Speaker 2: which is normally the place that we get there is
Speaker 2: between February and June, which is the best place for
Speaker 2: us to go there and get it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, Obviously back forums, as a major employer in
Speaker 1: the reason region, how does a global export business specifically
Speaker 1: translate into long term economic stability for the local region community.
Speaker 2: By being there, you know, there will be many ways
Speaker 2: probably for the company to segmentate and move operations here
Speaker 2: and there. And I think one of the things that
Speaker 2: we've seen is that our investors are really interested to
Speaker 2: stay there, to stay in Mexico and even to go
Speaker 2: on the sites and above. As a result of that,
Speaker 2: I don't know if you had, but just last year
Speaker 2: we bought a company that is complementary to the business
Speaker 2: that we do. The company's name is Baha Marine Foods.
Speaker 2: It's also there were our neighbors actually in Ensenada, and
Speaker 2: for many years there were partners in even processing some
Speaker 2: of our fish. Now, as we're sharing with you, obviously
Speaker 2: sudd in abundance in the region, as other elements that
Speaker 2: we can use as fish milk and fish oil. So
Speaker 2: our investors were really interested in trying to get that
Speaker 2: footprint wider and obviously to establish more a kind of
Speaker 2: company that is not only you know, going on fishing tuna,
Speaker 2: but is more on a protein platform in all senses.
Speaker 2: And that protein can be tuna, could be fish, milk,
Speaker 2: could be fish old, could be omigas, could be many
Speaker 2: other things that even for human consumptual. Very soon we
Speaker 2: will we will get there. So the company has been
Speaker 2: investing a lot on and then Zenada, not only obviously
Speaker 2: increasing the gapex and that the knowledge that we have
Speaker 2: in our operations but also looking at other complementary business
Speaker 2: I think we have now I've seen the company that
Speaker 2: is really making a big commitment with the community in Mexico.
Speaker 2: The Ensenada community, I think is a great place for
Speaker 2: us to be and as a result of that, we
Speaker 2: are now in the business of fish meal and fish auto.
Speaker 1: Yeah, funny, I was good to ask you. One of
Speaker 1: the questions I was going to ask you was about
Speaker 1: your investment and buying the acquite in the marine foods.
Speaker 1: This is integration, reduced financial risk by stabilizing feed costs,
Speaker 1: which are probably one of your largest expenses are the.
Speaker 2: Well, as I said, we fish on the sadin fresh
Speaker 2: in order to feed the to now. But it happens
Speaker 2: to be the case that sometimes we have enough sudin
Speaker 2: right that we don't need that saudin anymore at the farm,
Speaker 2: and then you still have some saudin on the vessel.
Speaker 2: So here the dilemma was can we use that sadin
Speaker 2: in a different way, And the answer was yes, right,
Speaker 2: So instead of taking that sud into our farm, there
Speaker 2: is obviously some other uses that we can give to
Speaker 2: the saudin that at the end of the day also
Speaker 2: will diversify the portfolio that we have in terms of risk.
Speaker 2: Coming to your question, obviously, it is a very smart
Speaker 2: way to the risk the company and at the end
Speaker 2: of the day have a better use on the Saudi
Speaker 2: and then to have this complementary business that goes hand
Speaker 2: in hand with the activity that we have, which indeed
Speaker 2: is fishing Sudin as well. So Bahamarin was a perfect
Speaker 2: fit for all the things that I just described. But
Speaker 2: on top of that, we have also a facility over
Speaker 2: there that is processing our tuna. The tuna that we
Speaker 2: harvest three times a week around the clock is brought
Speaker 2: to wins Anada to this facility, and obviously we need
Speaker 2: to give take out the gods and do the whole
Speaker 2: process of cleaning that fish, putting it into a box.
Speaker 2: Now we are going given one step further in terms
Speaker 2: of new product development. So we have new processing lines
Speaker 2: that are cutting the fish in different portions and trades,
Speaker 2: and so we will get a complimentary business by nature
Speaker 2: into Bahamarin if we use that facility the right way.
Speaker 2: And when you look at the fish mill and the
Speaker 2: fish oil, and I will go a bit more on
Speaker 2: the fish oil space, there is something that we call
Speaker 2: upgrade to human because normally you can use the fish
Speaker 2: oil also for pet food and many other things, but
Speaker 2: you can also think on fish oil for dha, you
Speaker 2: know which you will see it on all the infant
Speaker 2: formulas or you will see it also now in adult beverages,
Speaker 2: whereby there's a boost of energy to some of the
Speaker 2: people that is sixty and above. And you have these
Speaker 2: kind of products that are using omigas, dha and many
Speaker 2: other things that you can struck from this name Zadi.
Speaker 2: So that's the way that I think we would like
Speaker 2: to drive the company going.
Speaker 1: Forward really good, really good. Beyond direct employment, how has
Speaker 1: the presence of our world class aquaculture facility influenced the
Speaker 1: local economy and the technical skull set of the coastal workforce.
Speaker 2: Yes, I think it's having a big impact. In general.
Speaker 2: We obviously employed people from the region. Whenever needed, we
Speaker 2: bring experts from abroad because sometimes you need people that
Speaker 2: has been there already or is having a deeper knowledge
Speaker 2: on some specific things. So this is how we bring
Speaker 2: people from Peru, from Chile, from many other places, just
Speaker 2: to make sure that these knowledge is passed to the
Speaker 2: next generation. And that's next generation is people from Mexico
Speaker 2: which is already working with us. We are very proud
Speaker 2: to be a company that is well recognized for local
Speaker 2: employment and local development with the communities. So our corporate
Speaker 2: social responsibility goes beyond the fact that we employ local people,
Speaker 2: but we do many other activities around.
Speaker 1: How do you ensure that the growth of our global
Speaker 1: brand doesn't cut at the expense of local resources or
Speaker 1: small scale pushing traditions.
Speaker 2: Well, listen, there is always this line right between the
Speaker 2: local fishermen or even the tessenal fishing that we have
Speaker 2: also in Ensenada, and the big names or the big companies,
Speaker 2: because we are not the only one, of course, to
Speaker 2: be very honest with you, this is something that we've
Speaker 2: been working with the authorities already for many years. One
Speaker 2: of the main things that we've been promotely promoting, sorry
Speaker 2: and even pushing very hot, is to draw these marks
Speaker 2: on the bay and on the coastal area whereby we
Speaker 2: know the local communities are fishing, and we normally don't
Speaker 2: go there because otherwise you will disrupt the activity that
Speaker 2: they have. So without having a document signed with them,
Speaker 2: we respect a lot to each other, and I think
Speaker 2: that's the beauty of having a community, right to work
Speaker 2: as one. There's a space for everyone, and the ocean
Speaker 2: is big enough for everyone to do their own activity
Speaker 2: without having any friction. So we respect a lot of
Speaker 2: the local communities, and we've been working with the authorities
Speaker 2: ready for many many years to even plot those areas
Speaker 2: on the raiders of our ships, so our ships normally
Speaker 2: will never go to those areas as many other areas
Speaker 2: that you have now in Mexico, because as you know,
Speaker 2: Mexico as a country has also a big promoter of
Speaker 2: the reserve areas of fishing or natural reserve areas of
Speaker 2: fishing and have signed many international agreements and commitments not
Speaker 2: to fish in a specific places.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, it's to look ahead. How do you see
Speaker 1: the relationship between global seafood market and coastal communities changing
Speaker 1: over the next number of years.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that if we are smart enough both right,
Speaker 2: we should find a way to have a space and
Speaker 2: the consumer both. And I think that's the case today
Speaker 2: in case of of our fish. Whenever you go to
Speaker 2: even market, you will see label over there wildfish, which
Speaker 2: is normally coming from their testle fishing or the type
Speaker 2: of fishery that you are describing. You will see also
Speaker 2: farm fish, and that's the main level that you see
Speaker 2: between one and the other one. Obviously there is a
Speaker 2: big price difference between one and the other one because
Speaker 2: it is having completely different attributes, mainly the fat and
Speaker 2: the time that it was lapped for one fish and
Speaker 2: the other one to come finally to the consumer. But
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, I think there's consumer
Speaker 2: for both. Right, so you will see the consumer or
Speaker 2: some of the consumers are interested molt on a wildfish
Speaker 2: for whatever reason. It is even the appliances that they get,
Speaker 2: and there is some other consumers. Is that the consumers
Speaker 2: that are interested in our fish because they are looking
Speaker 2: for different type of attributes. And as I was saying,
Speaker 2: if we are smart enough, both of us, I think
Speaker 2: we should just keep on driving that dynamic going forward,
Speaker 2: respecting a lot of what we do, knowing that there
Speaker 2: is place for both. And I think we shouldn't be
Speaker 2: thinking that one is and then the other one is
Speaker 2: just the different elements that you have in a consumer
Speaker 2: basis that obviously you can do what you do in
Speaker 2: the best possible ways, and there is always going to
Speaker 2: be one for you to pick, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know when you said that, Manuel I was
Speaker 1: just my our son. One of our sons is and
Speaker 1: lives in Australia, and it's only when we started going
Speaker 1: and visiting them that I it's the first time I've
Speaker 1: ever seen it. You might see it's common, but I
Speaker 1: just picked up and when you were saying a bit
Speaker 1: wild un farmed on a menu in Australia, they tell
Speaker 1: you on the menu if it's wild or farmed. And
Speaker 1: I think it's fantastic, Yes, yes, absolutely, because everybody can
Speaker 1: just what works for them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, at the end of the day, consumer is always
Speaker 2: having the last word on everything, right, So we just
Speaker 2: need to give the choices to consumer and do our
Speaker 2: best to make sure that that the end of consumer
Speaker 2: is well informed and that they are the one speaking
Speaker 2: one or the other one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you were talking about the consumer, is there
Speaker 1: anything you will wish the average consumer understood about the journey,
Speaker 1: say of a blue and tuna from the waters of
Speaker 1: Baka to their dinner plate, anything that you feel.
Speaker 2: That well there is. There is always this misinformation right
Speaker 2: about bluefeing going extinguished because of the big companies of fishing,
Speaker 2: and so that is not the case already for many
Speaker 2: many years. I think we are one of the few
Speaker 2: stories around the world whereby in nature, the commitment of
Speaker 2: the companies, the scientific community, and all regulators including the
Speaker 2: governments of all the countries starting from Mexico, the US,
Speaker 2: Japan and many others, they were really in agreement to
Speaker 2: do something right. And the result of that was that
Speaker 2: last year, instead of waiting for another five years to
Speaker 2: achieve the objectives that were set, we achieved them last year.
Speaker 2: And as a result of that we got the first
Speaker 2: small increase on the quota because after all these scientific
Speaker 2: evaluation then they came up with a result that it
Speaker 2: was showing that abundance of the bluefin is back into
Speaker 2: the ocean. So there is very few spieces around the
Speaker 2: world that can't actually say or tell a story as
Speaker 2: compelling as the one that we have in blue Fin.
Speaker 2: The result of that, over the last twenty years, many
Speaker 2: companies die in between. Right, Most of the companies didn't
Speaker 2: survive that thing. And why they didn't survive because there
Speaker 2: was obviously a quota given with a minimum amount of
Speaker 2: fish that you could get right. So, and here I
Speaker 2: think the big learning for everyone is that sometimes you
Speaker 2: want big gains right small investments turn it into big
Speaker 2: capital just from one day to the next one. This
Speaker 2: is not an industry what you would do something like
Speaker 2: if your mindset is that, then you should better go
Speaker 2: to different a different industry. But nobody here takes time,
Speaker 2: right even to grow the first, to see how the
Speaker 2: first is evolving and then to get that quote increase
Speaker 2: have taken a lot of time. And that thing goes
Speaker 2: with the mindset of person that really thinks on long
Speaker 2: term instead of short that really thinks on how to
Speaker 2: give the best product to consumer, and really thinks on
Speaker 2: how to be really sustainable in nature, not just by saying.
Speaker 1: It okay, okay and lead twenty twenty three, or just
Speaker 1: a few years ago a major consortiums acquired a majority
Speaker 1: stick and back Acroa Farms. What specific operational expertise have
Speaker 1: these global investors brought to the table to drive your
Speaker 1: growth strategy?
Speaker 2: Well, it's fascinating. So some of the people sometimes ask
Speaker 2: me that question, and they're asking me, like Manuel, how
Speaker 2: do you deal with all of them at the same
Speaker 2: time as you can imagine you are on a board
Speaker 2: of big number of people the smarter than you to
Speaker 2: start with, and I have in front of me sometimes
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five people in front of me and asking
Speaker 2: all these sort of smart questions and trick questions and
Speaker 2: very intelligent questions, pushing me really to the edge, which
Speaker 2: is fascinating. Honestly speaking, It is fascinating because coming back
Speaker 2: to your question and the answer, to have a vast
Speaker 2: group of people that is having these kind of experience,
Speaker 2: many of them going on agriculture and obviously other type
Speaker 2: of business development. It is at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: giving me a vast array of expertise and people that
Speaker 2: I can take and pick up from the different projects
Speaker 2: that we have and from the different problems that we
Speaker 2: face sometimes. So I can tell you that specifically Continent
Speaker 2: Brain EGI called TIBA are probably the three major ones
Speaker 2: that are coming with these expertise, one in agriculture, the
Speaker 2: other one in general in logistics, the other one in
Speaker 2: general also on the agro in Mexico. And you know,
Speaker 2: is fascinating just to have that kind of people with you.
Speaker 2: Obviously it's challenging for the reasons that I explained, but
Speaker 2: I really love it. Whenever I have a problem, I
Speaker 2: define the problem with the nature and then I know
Speaker 2: who is the right person to talk to, and I
Speaker 2: think that's the beauty to have a boat with these
Speaker 2: kind of people. I must also say that we also
Speaker 2: have on the boat still two of the main instrumental
Speaker 2: people that were with us from the very beginning in
Speaker 2: the company. We call them the founders, but indeed they
Speaker 2: were there after the first people who started the company,
Speaker 2: but they were the ones really reshape the company the
Speaker 2: way that it is today. One is from Iceland and
Speaker 2: the other one is Mexican. And these two gentlemen they
Speaker 2: are still there. And the board also nurturing the conversation,
Speaker 2: challenging me but also being that nice year that you
Speaker 2: can have when you don't know what you do and
Speaker 2: then you have someone that has been there before able
Speaker 2: to help and here and mostly give you the best
Speaker 2: advice in the best interest. So I really love it,
Speaker 2: you know, the fact that we have that type of
Speaker 2: board and investors. It gives a new dynamic to the
Speaker 2: whole company because it respects the value of where we
Speaker 2: came here. And it also propels the company to be
Speaker 2: obviously a big corporate and then to keep on growing
Speaker 2: the way that we do.
Speaker 1: So you're in a good place.
Speaker 2: Yes, I cannot complain at all.
Speaker 1: Good. It great. The global farm Plufen market is recovering
Speaker 1: from the price crash in twenty twenty four where the
Speaker 1: Mediterranean prices plummeted due to weak demand. How did bacha
Speaker 1: Acra Farm's weather that storm and how have you adjusted
Speaker 1: your financial hedge in to protect against similar future potility.
Speaker 2: Well, it's very difficult to hedge against that as honestly,
Speaker 2: I can tell you that the answer is no, No,
Speaker 2: we did it. It's very complicated that you hedge for
Speaker 2: something like this, especially if you don't know where the
Speaker 2: price will go. Right, and we were having so much
Speaker 2: biomass on the water. I can tell you we are
Speaker 2: a big farm and we were a lot of fish
Speaker 2: in the water when that thing happened. Obviously we were
Speaker 2: optimistic about the future, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: you're seeing that prices are going down, that's probably not
Speaker 2: the best place to be. So no, we didn't. There
Speaker 2: was no way for us to act probably different in
Speaker 2: a way, and I have thought about these many manys.
Speaker 2: So talking to obviously the investors and the way that
Speaker 2: the outlook was there, we knew that it would be
Speaker 2: a difficult year. We knew that we had to continue
Speaker 2: being consistent with what the company was building at that time,
Speaker 2: and as I told you, the strength of the company
Speaker 2: went really on differentiating the product from the rest. So
Speaker 2: we knew that that investment will pay off at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, because if we were to have
Speaker 2: a more consistent fish, a more consistent color, a more
Speaker 2: consistent way of being so sustainable, more consistent way of
Speaker 2: feeding the tuna, and we were building on every single
Speaker 2: line of those capacities, at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: we would be in a better place. Now. I'm glad
Speaker 2: to say that that proved to be true. Right, twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five was a completely different year for us, much
Speaker 2: much better. And I am not complaining about twenty twenty
Speaker 2: four by the way. I'm just saying that it was
Speaker 2: a tough year. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: I think the key learnings here is that if you
Speaker 2: are consistent on your long term strategy, you might have
Speaker 2: a bad year or rainy season, that the end of
Speaker 2: the day, you keep on building on those strengths, then
Speaker 2: you will be getting a better year on the following
Speaker 2: one for sure.
Speaker 1: No, that's that's very good.
Speaker 2: That just.
Speaker 1: Tells us that it's a very professional run. Operations. Credit
Speaker 1: to you on that that just comes luded clear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we we are trying, we are trying to
Speaker 2: do our best and that and yeah saying those values
Speaker 2: are also coming from from before even h. We have
Speaker 2: this this change on dynamic on the on the company
Speaker 2: a few years ago.
Speaker 1: Yep, the as a saying we have here Manuel, when
Speaker 1: the going gets tough, the tough get going, kay.
Speaker 2: H.
Speaker 1: And that seems to sum up your situation. You just dig,
Speaker 1: you just dig and then get on with it.
Speaker 2: Well, the island is on the fishing industry, honestly, the
Speaker 2: nothing comes easy here. Yeah. I mean, I'm blessed to
Speaker 2: be in this place, honestly, and I love what I do.
Speaker 2: But nothing comes easy, that's for sure. So it's really
Speaker 2: for the type of people that wants to be here
Speaker 2: in the long run. And it's really the type of
Speaker 2: people that really loves this type of adrenaline of also
Speaker 2: knowing that you really need to work hard to get
Speaker 2: it done.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I would be known if just hypothetical, I know,
Speaker 1: if Japan's market share sashimi grill tune were to decline
Speaker 1: and maybe consumers to a high praise sensitivity, which I
Speaker 1: don't think is a case, could there be a shift
Speaker 1: towards the US market.
Speaker 2: That already happened, Jim, Yes, do you know these new
Speaker 2: generations are behaving differently right, So as you know, aging
Speaker 2: population in Japan is high, new population in Japan is
Speaker 2: with different type of behaviors. So consumption in general in Japan,
Speaker 2: if you look at the economics, is going down for
Speaker 2: several years already and as a result of that, we
Speaker 2: pick up at the right time to develop all the markets.
Speaker 2: I can tell you that five years ago, ninety percent
Speaker 2: of our cells were in Japan. Today only ten percent
Speaker 2: of our sales are on in Japan.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's a big, big shift.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, yes, so yes, And you know necessity
Speaker 2: right when you see obviously the opportunity, but also the
Speaker 2: need when you are in a market that you see
Speaker 2: that every year is much more complicated to differentiate your product,
Speaker 2: to position your product well, to be in a space
Speaker 2: where you are along with consumer, where you have the
Speaker 2: recognition also from consumer on your brand, then that might
Speaker 2: not be the best place to be. Then you need
Speaker 2: to find higher graft, right, and that push companies to move,
Speaker 2: and that was our case and we found better places
Speaker 2: to move. And now obviously we see what is happening
Speaker 2: in Japan, but we see it now with different eyes.
Speaker 2: Still is a very important market for us because it
Speaker 2: will always be is the mecca of tuna. What I
Speaker 2: we like it or not so, But at the end
Speaker 2: of the day, in terms of sales impact, I can
Speaker 2: tell you that there is only a very little portion
Speaker 2: of our P and L that is impacted by japan
Speaker 2: prices and demand. So and yet we really need to
Speaker 2: develop the consumer some other places around the world. You know,
Speaker 2: this keep thing keeps evolving. I study at the University
Speaker 2: of Chicago, and I had this professor, which, by the way,
Speaker 2: later on he won an over Prize of Economy. His
Speaker 2: name is Richard Taylor, and he wrote his wonderful book
Speaker 2: The Notch So I had really the opportunity to be
Speaker 2: with him and to learn from him. It's my professor.
Speaker 2: He was all the time telling me that consumers are
Speaker 2: following something that is called Heisenberg principle, which is quantum physics, right,
Speaker 2: And what it is saying is that the only the
Speaker 2: mirror impulse of trying to measure the exact position of
Speaker 2: a particle in the space, just by trying to do it,
Speaker 2: the intention of measuring it will move that particle to
Speaker 2: a different position, so you will never get it right. Right,
Speaker 2: And he was all the time telling us exactly that
Speaker 2: that's consumer. Whenever you think you know where the consumer is,
Speaker 2: it is alway moving to another space. And that's why
Speaker 2: I need to notch consumer right. That's why they called
Speaker 2: the book is the book is called the nuts. But
Speaker 2: that's exactly what is happening today. You know, before we
Speaker 2: were having consumers that were worried about quality and sustainability,
Speaker 2: and then we were having consumers that were worried about
Speaker 2: the experience, right we were having Now we have consumers
Speaker 2: that are worried about embodying the brand as I define it.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: And if you look at histogram, TikTok and all different
Speaker 2: sources of social media, then you have consumers that want
Speaker 2: to be represented by a brand that's a different thing.
Speaker 2: That's what I call embodying the brand. So this brand
Speaker 2: defines me as a consumer. And because these brand defines
Speaker 2: me as a consumer not only because of the experience
Speaker 2: and the values and the way that it behaves, but
Speaker 2: because of many of the other things that are related
Speaker 2: to me, then I decide to be with this company
Speaker 2: and this brand and this product that is happening today.
Speaker 2: So really the game now is how to be in
Speaker 2: that space again with that consumer that is looking for
Speaker 2: all these things together at the same time.
Speaker 1: That's fascinating.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I admire ear honesty as well. Manuel, And I was
Speaker 1: just thinking when you first started talking on this point
Speaker 1: and you mentioned necessity, Well, my dear old late mother
Speaker 1: used to have a great saying she used, necessity is
Speaker 1: the mother of invention.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, I love it, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1: As a Mexican based company's exporting globally, how do fluctuations
Speaker 1: in say the Mexican peso against the US dollar and
Speaker 1: Japanese yen impact your overall profitability?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we we have an impact because all the operations
Speaker 2: are in Mexico. If you saw, probably the last four years,
Speaker 2: Mexican peso was strong, so we were actually having a
Speaker 2: benefit out of that. Then last year we had a
Speaker 2: vessel that it was fluctuating a lot, and then you
Speaker 2: see a pesto again this year that is strengthening going
Speaker 2: a bit up and down. Generally speaking, when you are
Speaker 2: really here for long term gym and you have all
Speaker 2: your operation here in Mexico, I mean there's no really
Speaker 2: a hetch that you can do against PESO that will
Speaker 2: last long enough, right, So out of that whatever you
Speaker 2: do is just speculation. So I think what investors have
Speaker 2: decided is that if we are investing in the country
Speaker 2: and we know the operations are here, is because at
Speaker 2: the end of the day, you already have the risk
Speaker 2: embedded and to the company operation and we are fine
Speaker 2: to deal with that type of risk. So yeah, it
Speaker 2: comes with I would say that it comes with the
Speaker 2: and with the nature of being in a place that
Speaker 2: it is having that probably downside if you would like
Speaker 2: to call it in terms of effects, but on the
Speaker 2: other positive sides, I mentioned the fact that we are
Speaker 2: in a marvelous place to fish bluefin. We are in
Speaker 2: a very fantastic place in order to fish for the suling.
Speaker 2: We have one of the best locations to happen to
Speaker 2: host our farm for the fish to grow. And those
Speaker 2: things are also part of the operational risk of the company,
Speaker 2: which obviously are over and above of whatever the EFS
Speaker 2: impact that we have on a day to day basis.
Speaker 1: Yees, as well as pervading employment. Have you reinvested directly
Speaker 1: into the local infrastructure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, yes, a lot. Yeah, yeah, we do you know,
Speaker 2: fishing in general, and you will hear it not only
Speaker 2: from me, but from many other people that are in
Speaker 2: the industry in general, requires a lot of capex, starting
Speaker 2: from the vessel. You know, we are somehow fighting with nature,
Speaker 2: right the sea is never forgiven. The nets, the equipments,
Speaker 2: the technology that you use, even the materials that you
Speaker 2: have on the vessel itself requires a lot of maintainance.
Speaker 2: So because of all of that, the company has also
Speaker 2: invested a lot in having their own facilities to maintain
Speaker 2: the vessels, which we do next to the post position
Speaker 2: that we have. So we have our own crew and equipment,
Speaker 2: and we have developed these people even to learn this
Speaker 2: type of techniques and even expertise on engineering, to have
Speaker 2: different type of maintenance workshops we call it. So even
Speaker 2: from fixing the nets, from the hydraulics, the mechanics, the raiders,
Speaker 2: the zoners, all these things, we had to build that
Speaker 2: infrastructure locally in order to have people around us that
Speaker 2: are able to maintain and service the vessel in the
Speaker 2: fastest way possible. I relate these to the f one
Speaker 2: when you see a car coming into the pits and
Speaker 2: then getting out in two seconds. Right in our case,
Speaker 2: we want to do the same. We want the vessel
Speaker 2: to come, then we do a pit stop and then
Speaker 2: we put the vessel back into the sea, which is
Speaker 2: the best way that obviously assets can have a return
Speaker 2: on the investment that we do.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, With climate events like El Nino threatening global
Speaker 1: tuna abandon what role does specialized parametric insurance or other
Speaker 1: financial instruments play and protect in your local operations and
Speaker 1: families that depend on them.
Speaker 2: Ah, there is no direct threat on the abundance. It's
Speaker 2: not that the fish is dying because of the temperature increase.
Speaker 2: What is happening is that the fish is going to
Speaker 2: a different places. Right. So it's like probably you if
Speaker 2: you are in a room of what the degree is temperature,
Speaker 2: then you want to be in a place where you
Speaker 2: have air conditioning, right, so you will move and you
Speaker 2: will move probably the way that you move around those places.
Speaker 2: And this is happening this year. So we've seen the
Speaker 2: fish moving to other places where we normally never see
Speaker 2: the fish going before. And by definition, obviously you need
Speaker 2: to be a smarter and try to go to those
Speaker 2: places and find the fish again, I mean, still is there.
Speaker 2: It's not that he's dying, but just moving in a
Speaker 2: different pattern. So biologically speaking, the fish is still there.
Speaker 2: The abundance is there, and the reproduction is happening, but
Speaker 2: just not in the same way and route that probably
Speaker 2: you saw it before. Now, to answer the second part
Speaker 2: of your question, which is of where we have some
Speaker 2: sort of financial hedge against that, obviously we do. There's
Speaker 2: a big investment of working capital right which is called
Speaker 2: living fish on the water. So we have a big
Speaker 2: group of reinsurance issuing a big insurance policy every year
Speaker 2: to protect. Obviously the fish that we have over there
Speaker 2: now at the end of the day is just the protection.
Speaker 2: What we want to do is obviously to act for
Speaker 2: before something like that is happening, or if we see
Speaker 2: any threat to the fish that we have, and for
Speaker 2: those we have a lot of protocols. From to start,
Speaker 2: we do monitoring on the temperature water, on the algae
Speaker 2: that we have on the water, even on the pollution
Speaker 2: that sometimes we find with the water. We work a
Speaker 2: lot with Noah in San Diego, which is alerting us
Speaker 2: every time that they see a changing pattern on the water,
Speaker 2: even the different algies that you can find, and so
Speaker 2: so that triggers alarms in our farm and in our
Speaker 2: protocols to move even the fish eventually out of the
Speaker 2: place that we are uh huh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I've acquired processing plants and fishing vessels. There
Speaker 1: is an x major capital injection going.
Speaker 2: Well, we just want to keep up going global. I
Speaker 2: obviously cannot give more details of what we want to
Speaker 2: do next, but I think in general terms, we see
Speaker 2: Bahack of Arms being a global company and trying to
Speaker 2: have a bigger stake and consumer worldwide. Not only in
Speaker 2: bluefin because I was explaining, we are also entering in
Speaker 2: some other categories as fish meal, visual and obviously we
Speaker 2: want to go big, We want to go global, and
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, we want to prove
Speaker 2: that Mexico doesn't have to choose between scale and sustainability.
Speaker 2: We can lead the world with both. If we do
Speaker 2: this right, our lasting impact won't just be to have
Speaker 2: great vesh but it will shift actually the standards, so
Speaker 2: higher quality, full traceability, respect for the ocean, and a
Speaker 2: mindset that is really long term values obviously beat short structure.
Speaker 2: And every time I want people to look back and
Speaker 2: say that we really help to redefine what Mexicans see,
Speaker 2: what means globally, and it's not cheap, it's not commody dize,
Speaker 2: but it's really this type of premium, trusted and responsible
Speaker 2: product that he's coming from Mexican hands.
Speaker 1: Okay. Given the current skill of the company and the
Speaker 1: backing of institutional investors, it's the future public listing or
Speaker 1: further consolidation and the American bluefin sector part of a
Speaker 1: long term financial roadmap.
Speaker 2: No, No, I don't think so. I think you know,
Speaker 2: our group of investors is very solid for the time being.
Speaker 2: I don't see these happening. People is really committed with
Speaker 2: the strategy that we had for the company, so there's
Speaker 2: no need for us to go that path.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, yeah, Well that's good. That's good that you're that.
Speaker 1: That tells anybody listening that you're in control and you're
Speaker 1: not just constantly trying to find something. You're in control.
Speaker 2: Well done, Thank you, thank you for that.
Speaker 1: I The February twenty twenty six FAO Global Globefish Report
Speaker 1: shows a strong price recovery for bluefin tuna with high
Speaker 1: value segments, experience in stables, seasonal three peaks, global trade
Speaker 1: value increasing and twenty twenty four supported by aquaculture growth
Speaker 1: and rising demands and a sashimi market. Do you see
Speaker 1: that's continuing?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe so. I believe so, And that would
Speaker 2: depend on how much more sophisticated also we become consumer
Speaker 2: is there trying to find new ways even to have
Speaker 2: some sort of experience with a product. And as long
Speaker 2: as we do this right, I believe that there is
Speaker 2: still some places where we can go and still dry
Speaker 2: price even higher. As I said, there's a limited amount
Speaker 2: of supply. So if you're able to recognize your brind
Speaker 2: with a different value, then there's a place for you
Speaker 2: to be with consumer and obviously have a better impact
Speaker 2: in terms of the willingness to pay that you have
Speaker 2: from them.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, yeah, Well says that it's looking the future
Speaker 1: is looking good.
Speaker 2: Well, we hope for the best and we work out
Speaker 2: is to be true.
Speaker 1: As we say here Manuel, if you're the worst, but
Speaker 1: hope for the best. Where can our listeners follow you online?
Speaker 1: Your social social media presence?
Speaker 2: I think I have an account on linking. Normally, I
Speaker 2: am not an active user. I'm more of a passive
Speaker 2: user to be very frank with you, But the company
Speaker 2: is having you know, Instagram pages at Luvina you will
Speaker 2: find us over there. We try to be with consumer
Speaker 2: all the time, trying to show what we do, how
Speaker 2: we do it, and the type of events that we
Speaker 2: also organize around the world. So if you're interested to
Speaker 2: be how the product relates with chefs, restaurants, consumers, I
Speaker 2: think the best place to find us is on Instagram
Speaker 2: and TikTok. As I said, at blue Fina, you will
Speaker 2: see us over there.
Speaker 1: Brilliant, brilliant. As CEO, what do you want the lasting
Speaker 1: impact of Baca Aqua Farms to be on the Mexican
Speaker 1: seafood industry?
Speaker 2: Well, as I was saying, I want to lead with
Speaker 2: the example. Mexico is recognized for many wrong things. I
Speaker 2: want this to be one of the right things to
Speaker 2: be recognized for. As we recognize tequila and mariachi, then
Speaker 2: we should be able to recognize ones that we have
Speaker 2: also one of the best things industries in terms of
Speaker 2: aguaculture and bluefin and I believe we can achieve that
Speaker 2: we are on the right place. We have the right people,
Speaker 2: which is mainly the thing that it requires. This is
Speaker 2: not coming just by fishing or vessels, but it's coming
Speaker 2: out of the people that you have in the company.
Speaker 2: I do believe that we have the right people to
Speaker 2: achieve something as global as we said. Really, I see
Speaker 2: the faces on the people committed to what we call
Speaker 2: this year the two two six K, which is twenty
Speaker 2: twenty six, and it's coming from the two oh two
Speaker 2: five K, which is the twenty twenty five. Last year
Speaker 2: we call it the two O two because we wanted
Speaker 2: to redo the company and redo the innovation, and the
Speaker 2: five K was five thousand tons that we wanted to
Speaker 2: sell in one year and we did it. So this
Speaker 2: year we're looking for the two two six K, So
Speaker 2: hopefully by the year and I can come back to
Speaker 2: you and tell you that we did it again. But
Speaker 2: you know, aiming high. It always requires to have the
Speaker 2: right people with the right commitment in order to to
Speaker 2: go the full bust and really give the ex draft
Speaker 2: for to make sure that we are recognized worldwide for
Speaker 2: something different just just bad news.
Speaker 1: It certainly impressed me. Manuel. Let you have your targets,
Speaker 1: you know where you're wanting to go, but you don't
Speaker 1: just jump at it. You're very professional. Operations.
Speaker 2: Yes, I think what we have done in terms of
Speaker 2: the operation setup is amazing. Honestly, I'm all the time,
Speaker 2: very proud all the time showing these to everyone, because
Speaker 2: I think it's really a lot of work, many years
Speaker 2: that were put into that thing to make it happen.
Speaker 2: So it's just fair for me to recognize all the
Speaker 2: people that it was working to achieve that. And it's
Speaker 2: only fair also for people to realize that we are
Speaker 2: really in a place and with a technology and with
Speaker 2: an operational setup that you know, many even other industries
Speaker 2: would like to have. So I think it's a great
Speaker 2: work that the people have done in order to come
Speaker 2: along this way.
Speaker 1: What would your advice to be be to somebody like
Speaker 1: me who wanted to buy a fresh piece of tuna
Speaker 1: and cook it? What would you what would be your recommendation?
Speaker 2: I would say that you should start with some niggity's
Speaker 2: there's a piece of tune on top and some steam
Speaker 2: rise at the bottom. They normally put a little touch
Speaker 2: of wasabi in between, and then you put that thing
Speaker 2: one piece in your mouth all at the same time.
Speaker 2: Try to take some akami, toro and toto in that combination.
Speaker 2: Start from the pinky one all the way to the
Speaker 2: red one, and you will see the transition and flagwork
Speaker 2: from one place to the other one. I think it's
Speaker 2: just a very good way to start from there. Then
Speaker 2: you will experience something different if this is the first
Speaker 2: time that you're trying it, and if not, then probably
Speaker 2: you will evolve immediately into some sort of sashimi, which
Speaker 2: is another type of h tuna cording that that you
Speaker 2: will also do to enjoy it. Is my case, I
Speaker 2: always start with any gities because it gives you this
Speaker 2: rare combination and having the soft rise in your mouth
Speaker 2: with the tuna and with that little soy sauce on
Speaker 2: top which is really watering into your mouth, and the
Speaker 2: tuna is just melting like butter.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think the sashimi is a brilliant combination between
Speaker 1: all of the tuna. You have the sabi, the pickled ginger,
Speaker 1: and the soy. I think it's an amazing combination of flavors.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you. I agree with you.
Speaker 1: And then and they all they all put something, they
Speaker 1: all give something different.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, indeed, Well when you'll I'll just.
Speaker 1: Stay able, fold up and I'd just like to thank
Speaker 1: you very much. That's really really, really interesting and my goodness,
Speaker 1: what I've like professional operation. Commend you on it, and
Speaker 1: good luck for the future.
Speaker 2: Jim, you are welcome to come to in Snana anytime
Speaker 2: you want. We would love to have you here and
Speaker 2: show you all the things that were just stalk face
Speaker 2: to face, and then we will have even sometimes you
Speaker 2: have some good wine and some tuna.
Speaker 1: We well to be to be honest with you, I've
Speaker 1: actually arranging for our conversation last night and I was
Speaker 1: actually had the area on the map looking looking where
Speaker 1: you are.
Speaker 2: That's the start. You're welcome a tripe. Yes, excellent, Thank you,
Speaker 2: Thank you very much for the time.
Speaker 1: Je