A Midleton-based business, Paulona Seafoods Ltd, has launched a new online seafood auction, where buyers can bid for freshly caught Irish fish in real time.
With supplies coming from 25 vessels including those in Kinsale, Castletownbere and Union Hall, this is the first time that an online auction has been used in Ireland to sell the fresh produce.
The twice-weekly live online auction is partnering with French based seafood auction house, CCI Finistere, which is aligned with the Guilvinic auction and has access to 260 buyers, creating greater income security by directly opening up the French market where demand is strong.
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Joe Walsh set up Paulona Seafoods in 2001. His father established Ballycotton Seafoods in the 1980s, which is now run by Joe’s brother.
Joe credits the encouragement his father received from Darina Allen and the late Myrtle Allen to set up the business.
He said: ‘You speak to any of the inshore boats, they’re predominately shellfish, they haven’t had an outlet for other species, and because of that, they’re moving their kids away from the industry, and then you have the fishing industry being lost, the whole craft of it, it’s being lost. I hope that maybe they can have the want to bring their kids back to it. I have a ferocious grá for it, I love what I do. It’s a change of mindset for fishermen and a change of direction for the Irish market. If every other European country is doing it, why are we not?
‘We are two full months [in business]. Two months in and 100% it works. If I’d thought of it earlier I would have gone with it two or three years ago when we had an awful lot more fish…From a company perspective, we are solely 100% Irish fish. Without Irish fish we’re nothing.
‘The buyers have been more than impressed with the quality. We have two grades here, A and B. A is good quality and B is poorer quality and there’s E, that would be exceptional or excellent and is primarily for day catch fish. Fair enough, some of our boats have day catch fish, but the problem is it takes another 36 hours after they’re caught to get to France.’
Paulona Seafoods received investment of €179,425 for the purchase of software and an in-house prawn freezing facility under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund.
