A high-ranking official of the country’s most successful sardine brand is planning to expand its fishing fleet to increase market share and serve both domestic and Filipino clients abroad in the coming years.

According to Mega Prime Foods’ chief growth and development officer Marvin Tiu Lim, the company takes pride in building its own vessels used by its fishermen.

“We are the ones who build our boat. These are steel-hulled boats designed abroad. We are also the ones doing the drydocking and repair, even our engines, in Zamboanga. We are proud that Filipinos can do all of this, which surprises some of our international counterparts,” he said in an ambush interview on Tuesday during the Mega Sardines x MWA Media Event in Quezon City.

To date, Mega Prime operates 100 deep-sea fishing vessels, used to catch sardines in the Sulu Sea by their roughly 900 fishermen.

“We are (definitely) planning to add to our fleet year-on-year, at least 1 to 3 vessels, depending on the need. As we aim for sustainability, there are a lot of fishing grounds and fishing opportunities, not only for sardines alone but for other species,” he said.

Aside from building their own vessels, Mega Prime Foods also produces the tin cans used in their sardines’ business.

Mega Prime Foods is known for its signature 12-hour catching to canning process, a unique and innovative process that guarantees the freshness and quality of fish in each can of sardines.

On fishing grounds, the crew uses state-of-the-art technology to track areas with a healthy fish population.

Mega’s high-tech sonar boats are equipped with side-scanning sonar technology and other equipment to detect fish.

Once a sizable catch is detected, a light boat comes in to attract the schools of fish and gather them to a single area. A catcher boat will then lower its net.

“Traditionally, manual labor is employed to transfer the catch to a carrier boat, but Mega Prime Foods uses another innovation, the fish pump. What usually takes an hour by manual labor now takes a mere 2 to 3 minutes by fish pump. With the fish untouched, histamine levels are minimized, its shelf-life is increased, and vastly improved freshness, firmness and taste are guaranteed,” the company stated on its website.

However, the company maintains that it recognizes its responsibility to safeguard and preserve the ocean and its surrounding communities by strictly complying with government-mandated fishing bans and using only regulation-size nets, and does not engage or condone irresponsible and destructive fishing practices.

“This responsible management of resources allows the replenishment of fish in the ocean,” Lim said.

Market share

Lim said they are targeting to grow their market share by 5 percent in terms of volume.

“It’s because, on average, the Philippines consumes a thousand 20-footer containers of sardines per month. Right now, we produce 3 million cans of sardines a day in all of our plants, depending on the fish catch, compared to Portugal, which produces 3 million cans in a year. Those numbers cement us, hopefully, to be the largest producers of sardines. It seems that the Philippines is the number one sardine-eater in the whole world,” he said.