The cold Canary Current, running adjacent to the islands, is an ideal environment for many kinds of marketable fish, and the fishing and fish-processing industries in the islands offer the best potential for expansion. São Vicente and Brava each have processing plants, and a fish-freezing plant was opened at Mindelo in 1991. The total catch in 2000 was 10,821 tons, entirely from marine fishing. Maritime resources are under-exploited; of the estimated 50,000 tons of fish, lobster, and other marine products available for harvest, only some 1,500 tons of marine products reach the market annually, either for domestic consumption or export.
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