Placeholder Placeholder coastal scene — a bespoke illustration for 3M Seafood is on the way.

3M Seafood

The first canned-sardine production in Mauritania in over five decades. The Nouadhibou cannery, inaugurated in January 2023 by President Ghazouani, was built by private investor Moulay Idriss Abass (Abass Group) as an import-substitution and 'consume Mauritanian' showcase — a lone counter-example on a coast whose enormous small-pelagic catch is otherwise exported round-frozen or reduced to fishmeal.

At a glance

Notable facts

• The consumer brand name printed on the cans is unverified (it may simply be '3M'), and whether product actually reached retail shelves after the January 2023 inauguration is unverified — hence this entry's unverified status.
• Two independent outlets (Afrimag and Kassataya) covered the inauguration, and the company appears as '3M SEAFOOD SA' among Seafood Expo North America exhibitors, supporting its continued existence — but the coverage is effectively a single press moment.
• Stated capacity of up to 100,000 cans per day, plus 110 tonnes/day of freezing capacity and 4,000 tonnes of storage; explicitly pitched at domestic consumption and nutrition.
• Mauritania's small-pelagic catch (sardinella plus Sardina pilchardus in the north) is overwhelmingly exported round-frozen or reduced to fishmeal and fish oil — this plant was framed as the import-substitution exception.

Behind the tin

3M Seafood is packed at 3M Seafood Cannery — Nouadhibou in Nouadhibou, Mauritania.

primary of 3M Seafood are packed at 3M Seafood Cannery — Nouadhibou, Nouadhibou — not the brand's whole range.

Products

Evidence & uncertainties

Overall sourcing confidence for this profile: ⚠︎ details being verified.

Species — Variable / unknown: Species varies by catch or is unverified; no reliable single value.