Gomes da Costa wants larger quota for tuna fishing

In a moment of strong exchange rate devaluation, reduce the dependence on imported tuna, increasingly expensive due to the high dollar entered definitely in agenda of Gomes da Costa, fish company controlled by Spanish group Calvo.
After launch, last year, a research project to refine the statistics on the stock of tuna in the Brazilian coast and demonstrate that the Country is able to enlarge the volume of tuna caught without putting the species at risk, the Gomes da Costa now wants the support of the Ministry of fisheries for these searches.
With this goal, the CEO of grupo Calvo, the Spaniard Manuel Calvo, met in Brasilia with the Minister of fisheries, Helder Barbalho (PMDB-PA), on the last day on March 11. "We are very tied to the amount of fish that we can capture in Brazil. Would be a good time to export now, but we are importing a lot of fish, "said the entrepreneur, emphasizing the importance of Brazil, a country responsible for 55% of global revenue of the company. In 2014, the Group won € 762 million (about us $ 2.6 billion).
Currently, the Brazilian quota for catching tuna-striped bonito – the most used by Gomes da Costa – is about 34 thousand tons. This quota has been exceeded by about 5 thousand tons for Brazil. There are even reviews of the stock of tuna would be underestimated, but this can only be confirmed from research, and the latest assessment of tuna stocks in the country was made in 2007.
With more recent data, the CEO believes the Brazilian quota could be lifted. If you could catch more tuna, Gomes da Costa would reduce imports. According to Calvo, tuna purchases from abroad represent 50% of the total rendered by the company in its plant in Itajaí (SC) in some moments of the year, this percentage reaches 60%. In 2014, the Gomes da Costa sued 65 thousand tons of fish, being almost 40 thousand tons of sardines and the remainder of tuna. Part of the sardine is also imported, but the entrepreneur sees no chance of reducing it, given the relevance of the off-season. "The opportunity is the tuna, reinforced.