Canada-based Clearwater Seafoods and Glaciar Pesquera S.A., Argentina, added a newly designed, state-of-the-art factory vessel to their Argentine scallop fleet, replacing and retiring one of the two existing vessels. The now fully-operational vessel strengthens Clearwater's leadership in innovative, sustainable seafood harvesting.

The Capesante—Italian for "scallop"—joins the company's Argentine fleet based in the port of Ushuaia. The vessel was originally built in Spain in 2002, and has been completely renovated. Now measuring 52 meters long and 12 meters wide, it includes a new, larger fresh-frozen processing plant, and sails year-round in the waters at the edge of the Continental Shelf, up to 200 miles off the Argentine coast.

Products harvested from this vessel will be sold internationally, primarily to the North American, European and Australian markets. The small and delicate, wild Argentine or Patagonian scallops are ideal for salads, pasta and ceviche, and are used in the company's ready-to-prepare Scallops & Sauce, Shrimp with Scallops & Sauce and Scallop Selects. The scallops are shucked, cleaned and individually quick-frozen within 30 minutes of harvesting at sea onboard the company's factory vessels.

"We're extremely pleased to have the Capesante in our fleet," says Eduardo Santiago Gonzalez Lemmi, president and partner at Glaciar Pesquera S.A. "This larger, more efficient vessel allows us to produce the highest quality Argentine scallops, and includes better accommodations for our experienced and dedicated crews." 

"This marks a period of record investment at Clearwater," says Ian Smith, chief executive officer. "The Capasante's industry-leading innovative harvesting and processing technology supports our commitment to delivering the highest quality wild-caught seafood to our customers around the world."