02 · Our products
Handline and troll-caught, landed on Pemba, frozen the same day. Below is every specification we hold on each species — including the ones that do not flatter us, and the ones we cannot make yet.
Thunnus albacares · Kiswahili: Jodari
Sleek, metallic blue-black back over yellow flanks. Our principal species and the one our handline fleet is built around — sold to mainland Tanzania today, graded to an export specification for tomorrow.
Coryphaena hippurus · Kiswahili: Fulusi
Mahi-mahi. Iridescent blue-green back, golden flanks. A fast-growing species that reaches maturity in four to five months.
Scomberomorus commerson · Kiswahili: Nguru
Narrow-barred Spanish mackerel. Torpedo-bodied, greenish-blue over silver. Firm, dense flesh that holds a steak cut.
Lutjanus spp. · Kiswahili: Tembo
Reef-associated snapper from the outer shelf slope. Pale rose flesh, clean flavour. Sold to genus, with DNA confirmation on request.
Specifications
Borrowed shamelessly from the nutrition label: one fixed format, the same fields for every species, no field left blank because the answer is awkward.
Thunnus albacares
Coryphaena hippurus
Scomberomorus commerson
Lutjanus spp.
Field definitions follow GDST 1.2 key data elements where they apply. Shelf life is stated per lot at the temperature we actually hold, −30 °C, not at the legal minimum. Ask for the specification sheet with tolerance ranges and pack details; microbiological limits will be added to it when the laboratory programme reports, not before.
The grade ladder
Grading in this trade is mostly opinion dressed as a standard. Ours is written down, applied at the landing site by a trained grader, and recorded against the lot — so you can see why a fish was graded the way it was.
Grades are assessed on the whole fish at landing and re-checked after the freeze cycle. A downgrade after freezing is recorded against the lot and shown in the lot record.
Bright translucent flesh with no browning. Firm to thumb pressure with immediate recovery. Clear convex eye, red gill, no belly burn, no gaping, no hook damage to the loin. Frozen the day of landing and held at −30 °C.
Tuna additionally, once the laboratory programme runs: fat content measured and recorded; pH between 5.8 and 6.2; histamine below 5 mg/kg on the batch sample. Until then Grade 1 tuna is graded on the visual and handling checks above, and the specification sheet says so.
Sound fish with minor cosmetic defects: slight colour variation, minor gaping, or hook damage outside the primary loin. Full cold chain and full traceability, identical handling — the difference is appearance, not safety or provenance.
Any fish that fails a Grade 1 check after freezing is downgraded and the reason is written into the lot record. It does not quietly become Grade 1 in a different carton. If you buy Grade 1 from us and a lot was downgraded, you will see it.
Fish showing decomposition, a broken cold chain, undersized specimens, or any species we do not buy — and, once batch testing runs, histamine above the limit. Rejected fish are recorded against the landing, not silently dropped from the ledger — a ledger that only contains successes is not a ledger.
Landings mix
Every mark below is a single fish in our landings ledger, coloured by the gear that caught it. Not a bar chart — you can count them, and the count is real.
Live count from our landings ledger: 7 fish recorded to date. Rejections are shown as their own colour the moment we record one — a landings chart with no rejections should make a buyer suspicious, so we would rather show an honest zero than leave the row out.
Tell us the species, the cut, the volume and the market you are importing into, and we will send the full spec pack with the documentation that market requires.
