Artisanal Fishing and Atlantic Stewardship in Nouadhibou, Mauritania

The Mauritanian Atlantic: one of the world's richest octopus grounds

The Atlantic coast of Mauritania — particularly the waters off Nouadhibou fed by the cold Canary Current — is one of the most productive octopus habitats on the planet. This productivity has supported artisanal octopus fishing for generations. Maurimar operates in this environment not as a new entrant extracting a resource, but as a long-established operation embedded in the local fishing community.

Responsible stewardship of this fishing ground is not just an ethical position — it is a commercial one. An overexploited resource eventually fails every participant in the supply chain. Maurimar's approach is to fish selectively, process locally, and maintain long-term relationships with both the ocean and the people who work it.

Hand-line and pot fishing: selective by design

Maurimar's fleet uses two traditional methods: hand-line and pot (trap) fishing. Both are small-boat, artisanal techniques that target octopus selectively.

• No bottom trawling. The fleet does not drag nets across the seabed. Seabed habitat is not disturbed.
• No bycatch trawl. Target species selectivity means non-octopus catches are minimal. Each line and each pot catches what it targets.
• Day-trip vessels. Boats operate on short fishing trips, landing catch frequently. This keeps product fresh and operations close to shore.

Maurimar does not source from industrial trawlers. Every kilogram of octopus in a Maurimar container was caught by Maurimar's own artisanal fleet using these methods.

Local sourcing: single zone, single facility

The entire Maurimar supply chain — from fishing ground to reefer container — operates within a compact geographic perimeter around Nouadhibou:

• Catch: Atlantic waters off Nouadhibou
• Landing: Port of Nouadhibou
• Processing and freezing: Zone Franche facility, Nouadhibou
• Export: Port of Nouadhibou (or Nouakchott for specific destinations)

This concentrated geography minimises transport emissions, eliminates the need for intermediate cold storage warehousing, and keeps the quality chain short and verifiable. Product goes from the ocean to a frozen reefer container without leaving the Nouadhibou area.

The Nouadhibou community: crews, staff, and training

Maurimar employs and trains its workforce from the Nouadhibou region — boat crews, processing staff, and quality control technicians. Wages and working conditions are aligned to Mauritanian labour standards and Maurimar's own internal policy.

QC staff are trained against Maurimar's documented grading criteria. This training investment has a direct quality benefit: a stable, skilled workforce produces more consistent grading outcomes than high-turnover seasonal labour. Buyers who rely on caliber precision across shipments benefit directly from this.

The fleet captains Maurimar works with are not anonymous contractors — they are people the company knows by name, operating under multi-year relationships. This continuity extends upstream into the catch quality: captains who understand Maurimar's requirements deliver better-selected product at landing.

What this means for responsible B2B sourcing

Buyers with sustainability requirements — whether driven by EU regulations, retail chain policies, or their own procurement standards — increasingly need to document the sourcing practices behind what they import. Maurimar can provide:

• Confirmation that product is sourced exclusively from Maurimar's own artisanal fleet
• Confirmation that no industrial trawl methods are used
• Catch zone documentation
• ONISPA health certification per shipment
• Facility visit access for buyers who want to verify operations in person