The Seawork Fish Processors (Pty) Ltd is a hake fishing and processing company based in Walvis Bay, Namibia.
Since its inception, the company has remained true to its mission of being a truly customer orientated value adding specialist.
Hake fillet (butterfly cut), Hake H&G, frozen hake fillet, hake fillets skin on/off are few out of the long list. Seawork processing have a great variety of products which help our client in widening its choice of product and its target market.
Our management's objective is to offer our customers the freshest fish with the best appearance available.
To ensure highest quality, every single fish that is the Hake fillet/Hake fillets or any Hake products processed at our plants are being hand filleted. This way of fish processing might be more costly and personnel intensive, but ensures the best possible quality.
Customer orientation is our value! For that reason we strive to offer you as many options as possible to create exactly the product you are thinking of.
Customization at the highest quality levels: be it a specifically moulded shape, certain trimming or weight specifications you require, we are the right partner!
By letting you benefit from our experience of customized fish processing, you will achieve results you never thought were possible!
You choose the raw material, the way you want it processed up to the freezing, packing and strapping methods. We ensure to include you within every step of the process in order to deliver tailor-made excellent results!
Furthermore we process your product directly into a desired retail concept. Be it individually labeled shatterpacks, master cartons, vacuumed portions, retail bags, etc.
The headed and gutted Hake is de-iced, de-scaled, graded and hand filleted. The fillets are trimmed for blood, bones, fins, black membrane, parasites, roe, guts, loose fish scales, absecces and sorted, packed and quick frozen in accordance with good commercial practice to attain a product temperature of -18ºC or below.
The Hake fillet is coated frozen to attain a product temperature of -18 C or below after thermal stabilization. No glazing is done when processing the Hake fillet. The fillets must be packed skin-down and lengthwise using blue LDPE for interleaving. The product must be packed in such a way that each layer of fillets is interleaved; the fillets are not touching and can be separated easily in a frozen state.
The storage and transport temperature is kept at a minimum of -18ºC and the product can be best used before 24 months from the date of production. The weight of the carton is 5kg net and sealing is 2*5kg cartons single strap clockwise.
For the packaging and labeling, if you want to put your own labeling, we are at your disposition or we can do our own packaging which include the name of product, Latin name, EU approval number, Best before and expiry date, address of manufacturer, EAN 128 bar code, FAO area, storage condition and product of Namibia.
During cold storage, sometimes the Hake products can develop a drying surface or moisture. To prevent this from happening, the Hake products are typically coated with a protective layer of ice known as glazing.
Glazing is described as applying a protective coat of ice to seafood products. This can be advantageous as the ice layer excludes air from the surface of the products, reducing the rate of oxidation.
In our plant, glazing is carried out by plunging or spraying frozen Hake products with filtered water. The amount of glaze picked up by the products depend on the product temperature, the temperature of the water , the size and the shape of the product as we process different size of Hake products. Also, the amount of glazing depends on its area of the surface and the glazing time. The amount of glazing used at our plant is ± 5%.
The application of glazing should be taken into great consideration because if it is applied in a hysterical way, the amount of glaze will not be constant and the thickness also will not be uniform. Thus, this can affect the level of protection offered by the glaze.
Now let us see of the advantages of the glazing process.
The dipping method is cost effective, low capital cost and it is relatively simple. The spraying process can be relatively controlled easily and it is also consistent to glaze coverage. Also, the packaging is very simple and can be semi-controlled.
Our Hake-Moulded are available in different grading. These are as follows:
50-70g; 60-80g; 90-110g; 120g+.But we also process the moulded loins as per our customer’s requirements.
The headed and gutted Hake is de-iced, de-scaled, graded and hand filleted. The skinless fillets are trimmed for blood, Pin Bone Out(V-Cut), fins, black membrane, parasites, roe, guts, loose fish scales, absecces and sorted, pieces are formed into a loin shape in a blue LDPE pouch, packed and quick frozen in accordance with good commercial practice to attain a product temperature of -18ºC or below. It is caught in sea by bottom trawlers in the south-east Atlantic.
The moulded loins are then glazed at ± 5%. It must be finger laid neat and evenly into the carton and no pouches are to be embedded into the meat. During transportation, it is kept at a minimum temperature of -18ºC and the product can be best used before 24 months from the date of production. The moulded loins are sealed at 2 x 5kg cartons single strap crosswise and the weight of the carton is 5kg net.
For the packaging and labeling, if you want to put your own labeling, we are at your disposition or we can do our own packaging which include the name of product, Latin name, EU approval number, Best before and expiry date, address of manufacturer, EAN 128 bar code, FAO area, storage condition and product of Namibia.
Hake is a mild-flavored white fish to colder seas. Because Hake is a mild fish it serves as a good foundation for good flavoring.
Hake with Lemon, garlic, capers and olives can be the most tasty and delicious meal than ever. Here are the steps to be carried out when cooking Hake fish.
1. Firstly, slice a quarter cup olives with combination of a quarter cup capers. Then, slice the garlic clove.
2. Spice the Hake with salt and pepper. Then, heat the skillet with at least 4 tablespoon of olive oil.
3. After 10 minutes place the Hake fillet in the skillet of olive oil.
4. After about 7 minutes, press lemon juice over the Hake fillet and let it for 10 minutes after it has cooked thoroughly.
5. Heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil in another skillet and pitch in the garlic, capers and olive. Let it cook for around 3 minutes and then add 1 cup breadcrumbs.
6. Let it cook for a few minutes till it gets a brownish color.
7. Laminate the Hake fish and then spread the garlic, capers and olive mixture over it.
Economic growth of our business is accompanied by ecological balance of the oceanic ecosystem. It is therefore inevitable to sustain well grown fishing populations and numerous measures to do so have been taken by the Namibian government and most Namibian fishing associations and companies.
Since consumers are becoming more and more aware of the importance of sustainable resources, the Namibian Government and fishing companies are striving to become MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) awarded.
Due to the fact that sustainability is a big issue to Seawork, we have already been accredited with the MSC - Chain of Custody certificate. This entitles us to handle MSC certified fish from sustainable resources all over the globe. We are also making sure that every product leaving our factory can be traced from raw material level to the individual packing and sealing the product itself.
Nevertheless the following facts emphasize how well the Atlantic coastline is standing, especially the Namibian exclusive economic zone:
The Namibian coast is approximately 1500km long and is arid desert along its entire length. Because of the desert coastline, the Namibian coast has few urban settlements, unlike most other coastlines in the world, which tend to be very densely populated. The lack of dense settlements means that there is not much pollution in Namibia marine waters, which could adversely affect the marine ecosystem.
According to the FAO: " with 580.000 Km² Namibia has one of the most productive fishing grounds in the world, based on the Benguela Current System, one of the four eastern boundary up welling systems in the world"
Furthermore the Namibian fishing industry is bound to very strict restrictions, e.g. TAC (Total allowable catch quotas) which ensures the ecological balance of the population during the fishing season.
In addition, Trawling for Hake is not permitted in less than 200 m depth, in order not to affect other species natural habitat and to minimize by-catch.
In 2008 the Namibian government has set the TAC for hake to be 130,000tons and this figure will stay the same for 2009.The conformity of the TACs is ensured by independent, government appointed fishery Inspectors, who must be present on every vessel at sea and on every landing of fish.
The closed season lasts for at least one or two months, September and October, depending on research results of stock Levels in order to ensure natural regeneration and to allow regrowth of populations.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources through its Directorate for Resources Management continues to conduct annual scientific research aimed at quantification of the resources and the state of the environment.
Resource Management exists in FAO region 47 to provide advice and take action needed to manage the sustainable utilization and conservation of living aquatic resources.
Existence of a limit on cod-end meshes size of 110mm to prevent young fish from being caught.
