In May, the price of monkfish plunged several times under the Guilvinec auction. A year after the scrapping of around twenty Bigouden trawlers as part of Brexit, the fish market is destabilized. At the port, the individual support plan (PAI) results in a drop of 5,000 tonnes in landings which could have led to an increase in the price of fish or to a loss of interest in the sales area, synonymous with a fall in prices. .
But, to meet the needs of fish trading companies, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, manager of the fishing port, has relaunched a commercial unit whose objective is to increase the volumes of fish sold under auction. Fish, mainly Irish but also caught by Franco-Spanish people. Delivered by truck with the approval of the entire industry.
Unsold fish put back on the market
“Initially, sales were going well. But, in recent weeks, we have had a lot of unsold goods,” worries Christophe Collin, the director of Bigouden armaments. For the first four months of the year, its nine trawlers recorded 52 tonnes of unsold goods. Fish withdrawn from the market by the producer organization Les Pêcheurs de Bretagne, to which the shipping company is a member, so as not to lead to a collapse in prices when demand does not match supply.
Yes, but Irish fish is not subject to the barrier price so that it could be sold at a low price, pulling the market down, or even put back on the market after a first unsuccessful sale in a context where, “In the first quarter, the tide department recorded a 20% drop in volume,” underlines Guénolé Merveilleux, president of the Breton association of buyers of fishing products.
Solutions in sight
The issue was the subject of a crisis meeting a few days ago. The opportunity for fishermen to demand measures, explains Sébastien Le Prince, vice-president of the departmental fisheries committee: “For market balance, we are asking that fish from foreign vessels be sold at the same barrier price. as ours or that it be destroyed so that it does not destabilize the market. » Concerns heard by the CCI whose objective is to limit fish imports to 1,500 tonnes per year by smoothing supplies so as not to compete with the species fished by Breton boats.
While the British government threatens to exclude Breton trawlers from new fishing zones and conflicts multiply with Spanish longliners and filleters – the Bara Pemdez, while fishing, was approached a few days ago by a Spanish vessel – the deep sea fishing of the Breton tip calls for a solution. It could also involve better forecasting of landed volumes. The OP Les Pechers de Bretagne is preparing to deploy an application, Breizh Contributions, to provide this data in real time to buyers.
