The past few months has seen several companies across the world tighten their belts, and to use corporate parlance, consolidate. The latest example is the ongoing tussle among buyers vying for Armement Dhellemmes vessels, sparking fears of job losses in the port of Concarneau in northern France.

 

How can one assess the impact of increasing consolidation and streamlining in the global fishing industry, and the impact such moves have on a small village or town which is heavily dependent on it for earning a livelihood?

 

What happens when all the boats and the quotas disappear? What alternatives do governments put in place, if anything?

 

“In terms of the socio economic element, there is no argument that a much larger number of smaller vessels, supporting and being supported by coastal communities provides greater and wider benefits than a very much smaller number of larger vessels,” Jerry Percy of the New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association (NUTFA) told Fishing News International.

 

“This