Algarve fishermen are rising to the challenge laid down by the Secretary of State of the Sea, Manuel Pinto de Abreu, to get live octopus into the premium Japanese market.
Algarve octopus may join the steady and profitable export of tuna to Japan where both are considered a delicacy and attract high prices.
From next year, Japan’s sushi sector will be serving octopus that has travelled live from Portugal if the fishing industry and the University of the Algarve can set up the process, and they are nearly there.
University researchers are optimising the conditions for live transport by chilling the octopus for transport. The prices that can be obtained in Japan make the economics of the system stack up and will prove to be a much needed boost to the Algarve’s fishing sector.
The Algarve’s octopus catch last year approached €12 million at auction, about 40% of national production, with the Spanish buying most of the output and cheekily shipping a proportion on to Japan.
Secretary of State, Manuel Pinto de Abreu, visited the Ria Formosa recently and launched the challenge to local boat owners and fishermen, "the Japanese are interested in buying live octopus, are we able to meet the challenge?"
University experts at the Centre for Marine Sciences concluded that the chilled shipping objective can be achieved with investment in cooling systems.
The experience gained by Olhão based company Tunipex in the production of tuna by aquaculture techniques and its export of the fish to Japan also will prove useful in setting up a smooth running export system for octopus.
Japan imports frozen octopus from all over the world but the Japanese are fussy when it comes to all things fishy and the challenge now is to get live octopus to Japan where it will command a much needed Algarve premium.
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