Irelands 2004 Seafood Exporter of the Year Award.

Shellfish De La Mer, based in Castletownbere, Co. Cork today received Ireland's '2004 Seafood Exporter of the Year' Award. This Award comes after four years of hard work and commitment from the company in aggressively seeking out new markets abroad. Their main export markets are France, the UK, Italy, Spain and Belgium, where their fresh chilled and frozen seafood products have enjoyed much success.

Founded in 1987, Shellfish De La Mer has grown to be one of Irelands leading and most progressive seafood processors, marketing a wide range of seafood products including the best of Irish crab, shrimp, lobster, scallops and whitefish.

During the first 12 years of Shellfish De La Mers existence the company focused solely on the domestic market and experienced rapid growth during these years. However during the late 1 990's the company started to experience a slowdown in the domestic market and decided concentrate on developing their European market. With the help of BIM, the Irish Sea Fisheries Board, the company have invested heavily in marketing, setting up an exportmarketing department in 2002, which has since grown from two to four personnel.

The company actively took on board the varying tastes of the consumer in overseas markets, introducing new processing techniques to their factory to ensure the end product fulfilled the market desire perfectly.

Speaking at the Awards Ceremony, Richard Murphy of Shellfish de La Mer said, 'We are delighted to win this esteemed Award. Shellfish De La Mer has focussed in recent years on proactive marketing, introducing new technology and constant research on new product development. They have been the key factors that have contributed to the rapid sales growth experienced by the company over the past three years.' Peter O'Sullivan‑Greene also stated that future growth would be achieved by further development on R&D. The training of existing staff to adapt to these new markets will also be crucial.