World Tuna Day: Seychellois students take a peek at one of largest tuna canneries

Victoria, Seychelles | May 2, 2023, Tuesday @ 17:41 in Business » FISHERIES | By: Sedrick Nicette Edited By: Betymie Bonnelame 

(Seychelles News Agency) – Students from secondary and post-secondary schools in Seychelles were able to learn more about all the work done up until tuna cans are put on the market during visits to the Indian Ocean Tuna (IOT) factory on Tuesday.

The visits, which coincided with World Tuna Day, to one of the world”s largest tuna canneries, which is managed by Thai Union, gave students the chance to know what job opportunities are on offer at the company.

The activity was organised in collaboration with the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA). The authority told reporters that the visit will help students to know what goes on at the factory, in case they wish to look for a career at IOT in the future.

“We wanted the students to have the opportunity to know what goes on at every stage of the factory and to also show them the importance of the factory here in Seychelles,” said Darrel Antat, the assistant manager for public relations at SFA.

Antat explained that while this activity was done on World Tuna Day, he hopes that IOT will be open to more visits in the future from students.

IOT is located in New Port in Seychelles’ capital, Victoria, and has over 2,000 workers producing 300 tonnes of the company’s famous canned tuna per day. This kind of visit requires careful planning and it was done in small groups, to ensure the students’ safety as well as ensuring limited disruption of the company’s work.

The company processes tuna caught in the Indian Ocean that is used by some of the most famous seafood brands including John West, Petit Navire and Mareblu.

Thai Union owns 60 percent of IOT and the remaining 40 percent belongs to the government of Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean.

Two of the students who took part in the visit said that they were very pleased to have been given the opportunity to visit IOT and learned a lot.

“I enjoy everything about the ocean, including fish, so it was great to have seen how the whole process from cleaning the fish to putting them in cans goes,” said Anushka Payet, one of the students.

Gibson Rosine said he was impressed with the level of importance that is put towards hygiene for the staff and also for the fish that is being processed.

“I got the chance to see the work done in the labs here and that was very interesting for me as I want to work in a lab one day,” he said.

World Tuna Day is observed on May 2 every year to raise awareness about the importance of tuna fish and promote sustainable fishing practices.

This date represents the accomplishment of fishing communities, scientists, and environmentalists who collaborated to safeguard tuna schools around the globe and develop a model for sustainable fishing.