Our story since 2019

From artisanal fishing fleet to blockchain exporter: a trust story built by those who fish

Mauritania Octopus Export is not a trading company. It is a business born in the Atlantic waters of Mauritania that chose to solve the trust problem of its market with a technology no one had yet applied to this industry.

2019
Act I — The origins

Born from the sea, shaped by artisanal fishing

It all begins in 2019 off the coast of Nouadhibou, in the cold Atlantic waters of Mauritania. Mauritania Octopus Export starts as an artisanal fishing operator — a fleet pulling from the depths of FAO Zone 34 one of the most sought-after products in European kitchens: Octopus vulgaris, the common octopus.

Those early years give us something pure trading companies simply do not have: an intimate knowledge of the product from source. We know which zones produce the firmest flesh. We can tell at a glance the difference between an exceptional T2 batch and an ordinary one. We understand the seasonal variations, the effect of the Canary Current upwelling on flesh density, the impact of the May–July biological rest on grading consistency.

For several years, we sell our catches to Mauritanian export companies. We are suppliers — excellent suppliers — but with no control over how our octopus ultimately reaches the European buyer.

2023–24
Act II — The observation

The problem nobody was solving

Over the years, we observe a structural reality of the market: the Mauritanian octopus trade suffers from a chronic trust deficit.

"European buyers import thousands of tonnes every year without being able to independently verify the real origin of the product, the fishing conditions, or the actual compliance with EC Regulation 1224/2009. They trust paper documents — which can be falsified. They trust intermediaries — who have their own interests."

Standard documentary certification (health certificate, certificate of origin, EUR.1) proves a batch existed at a given point in time. It does not prove that the information it contains reflects ground-level reality. It does not prove cold chain continuity. It does not prove that the batch received is the one declared at catch.

We saw this problem from the inside. We decided to solve it.

Late 2025
Act III — The strategic pivot

The move that changes everything: from fisher to exporter-innovator

In late 2025, Mauritania Octopus Export makes a major strategic decision: to stop being a local supplier and become a direct exporter to European B2B buyers.

But not simply an exporter. An exporter with a guarantee nobody else in the industry could yet offer: traceability anchored on the Bitcoin blockchain.

MauriTrace — Our technological answer to the trust problem

We built MauriTrace, a proprietary Android application used by every operator in the chain — vessel captains, port agents, plant teams, logistics coordinators. Each event generates a cryptographic fingerprint anchored on the Bitcoin network via OpenTimestamps: immutable, publicly verifiable, unfalsifiable retroactively.

MauriTrace is the first blockchain traceability solution applied to Mauritanian octopus export. It provides European B2B buyers with tamper-proof batch documentation, well beyond EC Regulation 1224/2009 requirements.

This is not a commercial promise. It is mathematical proof.

What our story means for you

When you work with Mauritania Octopus Export, you are not working with an intermediary. You are working with the operator who has known the product since the sea.

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Field expertise since 2019

Six years of artisanal fishing in FAO Zone 34. We know the product like no one else.

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Shorter supply chain

Direct export, without unnecessary Mauritanian intermediaries. Better price and quality control.

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Blockchain traceability

MauriTrace timestamps every event on Bitcoin via OpenTimestamps — tamper-proof, verifiable by you.

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Beyond EU compliance

Beyond EC 1224/2009: cryptographic proof that documents reflect ground-level reality.

Ready to work with an exporter who proves what it claims?

Contact us for a quote within 24 hours, including a demonstration of our blockchain traceability.