Castletownbere Fisherman's Co-operative Society Ltd was founded in 1968 by a group of fishermen who came together with the initial aim of purchasing fuel in bulk. This idea expanded, resulting in the group forming a sales company to sell their fish.
In 1983, the Co-op opened its first fish processing unit at the main pier in Castletownbere. Seven years later, it purchased the Riocht Fish Processing Plant in Dinish from the Hal-Lal group. The year 2004 saw the plant extended to 5000sq.m. where it can now process in large quantities, therefore reducing the number of links in the supply chain from fisherman to consumer.
Castletownbere Co-op operates its own processing plant which has 60 tonnes of chill, 200 tonnes of cold storage and 50 tonnes of freezing capacity. Over 40 years of trading in fish, it has built up markets for its products all over the world, from Japan to Africa, as well as Ireland and Europe.
The Co-op is owned exclusively by its members as a body, and built on a tradition of supplying quality seafood products from its state-of-the-art premises in Castletownbere.
