-12%, auction sales in the Pays de la Loire declined in 2020, both in value and in volume, compared to the average for the three previous years.
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The year 2020 will also remain a gloomy year for the fishing industry in Pays de la Loire.
Auction sales fell 12.6% in volume and 12.8% in value. Overall, it is a loss of turnover which amounts to 13.5 million euros.
In Sables-d’Olonne, as in La Turballe in Loire-Atlantique, the drop in tonnage is of the order of 20 to 30% and 25% in value.
The wholesalers, for their part, saw their purchases fall by 10% in value and almost 7% in volume.
Generally, “our companies have so far been able to absorb the losses due to the health crisis. But this situation cannot last forever”, said Lionel Collachot, secretary general of LOFP, the inter-professional association Loire Océan Filière Pêche, in a press release which points to the health crisis but also Brexit.
Sardines procrastinate gloomy numbers
Despite these bad figures, it should be noted that the ports of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, in Vendée, and La Turballe, in Loire Atlantique, have nevertheless experienced “an exceptional season for sardines”, especially in December, “which tempered a record which was so far more gloomy”, indicates the LOFP press release. La Turballe, however, recorded a drop in sales of 18.6% in value.
“Despite the closure of restaurants, the fall in exports and the uncertainty reigning on the market, producers and buyers continued to play their roles, the former by continuing their outings at sea to maintain large volumes of inflows, seconds to balance the scale and maintain reasonable prices “, notes the association created last October.
Since the beginning of February, however, the prices of certain species have collapsed (sole, sea bass, hake), in particular due to the closure of restaurants, underlines the association, which also notes the presence off shore of more foreign vessels due to the fact the postponement of the fishing effort resulting from Brexit.
The sector is getting organized in the face of the crisis
The fishing industry in our region has 1,300 embarked fishermen, 350 vessels and 400 professional fishermen on foot. It weighs more than 110 million euros in annual turnover in five fish markets: Le Croisic, Les Sables d’Olonne, La Turballe, Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, Noirmoutier, where more than one hundreds of different species are unloaded each morning.
The Pays de la Loire sector was structured by creating the inter-professional association Loire Océan Filière Pêche (LOFP) last October.
“During the Covid-19 epidemic, we really realized that we needed each other”, then explained José Jouneau, president of the regional fisheries committee in the Pays de la Loire and retired fisherman, who has since been elected president of LOFP.
