In a statement received by Libé, the fish canning manufacturers of Laâyoune have withdrawn from the UNICOP (National Union of Fish Canning Industries) and created their own association under the name ANICOP (National Association of Fish Canning Industries).

This association, headquartered in Laâyoune, brings together the dissident companies of the UNICOP, sharing the same objectives, except that ANICOP was founded to defend the interests of companies originating from Laâyoune.

In the statement, the signatories specify that the fish canning sector comprises around forty operational production units, including their group, which has disassociated itself from the UNICOP.

This decision, the statement explains, is justified by the fact that the group of dissident companies does not share the management style of the team in charge of the UNICOP. Furthermore, the document adds, this group, composed of 6 companies belonging to the sector, decided to create ANICOP.

The document specifies that the agreement of 16 April 2012, which granted a quota of 100,000 tonnes of small pelagic fish frozen on board to UNICOP member manufacturers for a period of 12 months, is tainted by arbitrariness, as it should have benefited all fish canning companies and not just those affiliated with a professional association, particularly since all companies in the sector have the same raw material needs and are all seeking to improve their productivity.

The document provides a history of the fish canning industry sector since the golden age of the port of Safi, which was the world's leading sardine port, primarily supplying the industrial units installed in that city, up to the era of the gradual migration of sardines towards the South of Morocco, where the ports of Essaouira and Agadir supplied the industries installed in those cities.

The signatories denounce the lobbying action undertaken, according to them, by the UNICOP, which aims to reverse this logical trend and not apply it to the industrial units installed in Laâyoune, whose creation required significant investments to modernise them. These units risk being destabilised, thus threatening the economic balance of the Southern region, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the Kingdom.

ANICOP invites the supervisory ministry to take into consideration the interest of the entire sector, with complete impartiality, and to encourage all processing activities that have developed in the Southern zone but which do not benefit from any particular advantage.