Oceano Seafood owns five processing plants, located in Colan, Paita, Tierra Colorada, Callao, and Matarani.1 The company employs at least 1,100 people across its plants and central offices in Lima. Each plant is equipped with its own dock.2 The company employs local fishers and says that 963 fishing vessels work with them.3
In 2023, Oceano Seafood acquired Sea Fresh USA, a fishing and processing company based in Rhode Island.4 The acquisition was the first investment Oceano Seafood had made in the US market.5
In June 2023, Oceano Seafood acquired Pescados Fabregat, referred to as Pesfasa, a company headquartered in Castellón, Spain, which primarily exports octopus.6 Pesfasa entered bankruptcy in November 2022 and its assets were put up for auction. Pesfasa’s workers overwhelmingly voted in favor of Grupo Océano’s offer.7
Oceano Seafood has been faulted for excluding local fishers from decision-making.
In March 2023, a working group was established in the Islay-Matarani District to address Oceano Seafood’s private dock there, which determined the dock constitutes an imminent danger to the community because it is situated on a slope that presents a landslide risk.8 The company, along with Tisur, the local international terminal, agreed to financially support measures taken to solve the problems with the dock, once the Islay District Municipality determined the necessary improvements.9
In December 2023, a group of fishers in Matarani protested Oceano Seafood, accusing the company of improperly conducting an Environmental Impact Study, harassing workers, and attempting to discourage them from participating in the hearings on the Study. The fishers claimed they were intentionally excluded from meetings regarding the study, which aimed to lead to the expansion of the company’s water treatment plant. The meetings were hosted while the fishers were out at sea, and they threatened to stop work if these practices continued.10 In March 2024, the fishers held another protest against the company and the Environmental Impact Study. The workers pointed to the landslide risk at the dock. The Mayor agreed to demand that Oceano Seafood not go forward with another hearing on the matter, and the fishers’ representative threatened to hold a sit-in at the dock if the company failed to comply.11
In September 2024, a fisher suffered serious injuries after falling off a boat from which he was unloading fish at the private Oceano Seafood dock in Matarani. The fisher was identified as Agustín Demetrio Maquera Aquino. Aquino was working on the vessel the Emanuel Matías. Aquino lost his balance and fell into the water, and was caught between the boat and the dock’s shock absorbers, according to initial investigations. He injured the right side of his chest and left collarbone, and was transferred to Arequipa for medical treatment.12
In March 2024, Oceano Seafood’s Matarani dock and its vessels were targeted in an operation by the Peruvian Navy aimed at preventing ships from docking in prohibited areas.13 In December 2023, local police and immigration officials visited the same Oceano Seafood dock in a surprise sweep for undocumented foreign laborers. The police found that most of the foreigners had the proper immigration documents.14 After another raid at the dock in August 2024, officials found that all of the workers’ documentation was in order.15
Oceano Seafood did not respond to a request for comment.16