sustainability
The Karoo Catch commitment to sustainability is embedded in our business practices, values and corporate identity in that the sustainable production of affordable protein significantly impacts our people – their progress, pockets and plates – and the planet as a whole.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Climate change is inevitable. The ocean temperatures are rising, and the water is acidifying, upsetting the ecological balance of the oceans and negatively impacting the fish species which inhabit the oceans. The impacts of changes in yield, distribution, catch variability and seasonality of production have an enormous effect on the growing number of hungry human mouths to feed. Continued reliance on wild fish stocks is thus not sustainable. Karoo Catch offers an alternative, sustainable and predictable method of fish production within a controlled environment. The fish are bred and farmed within a recirculating system in greenhouse tunnels, thus using a minimal amount of water which is borrowed from local farming activities and returned in an enriched form for use as irrigation water. The market size fish are then transported to the central processing facility for value adding and distribution.
SUSTAINABLE EMPLOYMENT
As a sustainable employment opportunity, Karoo Catch specifically focusses on offering young rural women, a hugely under-developed sector of our population, the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills, thereby providing security of income for these rural families. In addition to the positive and tangible impacts on the livelihoods and economic standing of our people, they have gained a sense of purpose and personal fulfilment and become self-reliant and empowered members of the community. In turn, this has already led to a decrease in poverty, with improved education and general health, thus making an enormous contribution to strengthening the economic and social fabric of the local community.
The Karoo Catch commitment to the sustainable production of value-added, superior quality and quantity output, and thereby improved competitiveness and commercial viability, has directly resulted in more permanent and sustainable rural jobs as well as enhanced local economic development, and goes a long way to addressing food security.