Sinerxia is a Galician consultancy born in 2010 focused on the promotion of the fishing and agri-food sector, with the aim of helping entities, companies and organizations to generate value and achieve their objectives, improving their competitiveness and expanding their markets.

What are the most significant changes that have taken place in the Galician fishing and agri-food sector since Sinerxia was founded in 2010 until today?

The changes have been very important and accelerated. In addition to the challenges that the market itself has been introducing, such as globalization, digitalization and, at this moment, artificial intelligence, the sector has gone through important challenges such as COVID or the increase in energy costs derived from international conflicts, together with other structural elements of the sector such as competition from Asian fleets, changes in consumption trends or the restructuring of the sector at European level. All this without losing sight of global challenges such as climate change or those associated with the sector, such as generational replacement problems. 

What has seemed important to us is the impact, especially since 2015, of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (formerly EFF and now FEMPA), which has contributed to supporting the modernization of the sector, its innovation and, now, boosting decarbonization, to comply with the CFP (Common Fisheries Policy) and the European Green Pact, among other commitments.

What specific areas does Sinerxia focus on to boost the growth and competitiveness of these types of companies?

Although Sinerxia began its journey in 2010, it was not until 2017 that it began its expansion specifically in the field of the fisheries and aquaculture value chain and in the food sector. Since that time, our customers have allowed us, with the challenges they posed to us, to be able to develop a growing activity that has led us to experience significant growth. Today we can say that Sinerxia is a recognizable company in the sector and a technological ally for it.

Sinerxia develops its activity in the field of strategic consulting, innovation, fisheries management, training and promotion of fisheries and aquaculture products. We develop our activity from the extractive sector and aquaculture, to the marketing and processing chain.

What are the main obstacles encountered by companies in the sector when trying to improve their competitiveness? What strategies do you consider most effective to achieve this?

First of all, we have to differentiate between competitiveness in the fishing and aquaculture sector and the processing sector. In the first case, we have to remember that Europe has to import more than 60% of the fish it consumes, since the European fleet is not able to cover the existing demand. Therefore, there is a constant threat with respect to third country fleets that do not always comply with the environmental and social standards that Europe obliges our fleet to comply with. There is therefore an imbalance between what is required of our fleet and what is required, for example, of the Chinese fleet. New European regulations such as Due Diligence and the forced labor regulation, should help to balance the rules of the game, because if competitiveness is based on price, Europe will always lose against those fleets. 

Regarding fish processing, we have the great honor of being a collaborating entity with the Spanish Association of Wholesalers, Importers, Exporters and Processors of Fishery and Aquaculture Products (CONXEMAR) and help the sector to be able to modernize through the proper implementation of the FEMPA funds or those of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, as will be the new PERTE MAR INDUSTRIA, for which we are already preparing.

What role do innovation and technology play in the development of these types of companies? In what ways could they take better advantage of these tools?

In both fishing and processing, these have been exciting years. We are witnessing, especially since 2015, a very important advance in all technological fields. From innovations in vessels, in communication, in fisheries management, digitization, fisheries observation, but also in food quality, logistics and, of course, in transformation of fishery and aquaculture products through improvement processes based on 4.0 technologies, and, now, artificial intelligence. Undoubtedly, the sector should take advantage of the FEMPA and PERTE funds to continue pushing in this direction.

What opportunities for improvement do you identify in the value chain of these sectors?

The value chain in this industry includes activities such as marine resource extraction, processing, distribution, logistics, and support services. If we had to identify some opportunities for improvement in this sector, Sinerxia believes that these opportunities will be related to the optimization, digitalization and automation of processes, advanced processing technologies, transparency and traceability of fishery products so that they can be traced from the origin to the final consumer, improving consumer confidence and complying with regulations, the development of new products or the commitment to minimize the carbon footprint and decarbonization.

Implementing these improvements can lead to a more efficient, sustainable and competitive value chain in the fishing industry, benefiting all stakeholders and contributing to the conservation of the marine environment.

How do you see the future of the fishing and agri-food sector? What trends do you think will set the tone in the coming years and how should companies prepare to take advantage of them?

In answer to the first question, we have to say that the fishing sector is fundamental to our society. It is a key sector in our food sovereignty that also produces the healthiest animal protein with the lowest carbon footprint on the planet. Therefore, we must all contribute to a sustainable future for this sector, from the administrations to the companies themselves, and this has a lot to do with a clear commitment to its environmental, social and economic sustainability. 

The second question is more complex because it is also multiple. As for the extractive sector, the key will be to balance the rules of the game and convince Asian fleets that, if they want to be in the market, they must comply with the same rules of the game and put an end to illegal fishing and improve the socio-labor and environmental conditions of their activity. It is clear that the trend towards innovation will be a growing axis in the coming years and especially with challenges such as robotics, artificial intelligence and digitization that will be replacing human processes with others in which they will have to continue to play a key role, but different. At the level of the processing sector, the challenge is to increase fish consumption, which is decreasing, through new formats that adapt to consumer trends, with less time available but with the same nutritional needs.

The best strategy that a company can adopt in these times should be to dedicate time and resources to carry out a competitive watch, to bet on training, on a responsible brand identity before the consumer and the introduction of digital tools that allow it to transform its business model to make it more efficient and sustainable.