Supporting others in the sector
Our position as the leading fish and seafood wholesaler comes with significant responsibility in terms of building and structuring the sector.
As such, our focus is on supporting others in the sector while preserving our regional roots and upholding our commitments to our local partners:
- Ensuring our commercial fishers have a permanent market outlet for all French fishery species
- Showcasing French fisheries to our clients in France and around the world
- Ensuring commercial fishers are paid by contributing to the running of our ABAPP and ACAAPP associations as key players in our sector
- Participating in the operation and financial balance of fish markets, which are crucial to the sector
- Supporting local and regional companies and associations.
Artisanal fishers
We are conscious of our key role in the sector so we actively work to :
N°1
Maintain and modernise fleets
By buying shares in boats in Normandy, we have enabled two fishers, a father and a son, to build two brand new boats that are more modern, consume less energy and provide better working conditions.
Océalliance plans to buy other shares in order to help young fishers get started in the sector.
N°2
Ensure fair pay for commercial fishers
Our buyers work hard every day to ensure the fair distribution of value within the sector. That is why we check that fishers are receiving fair pay, in line with the quality of their products and type of fishing. Because of our buying power at French fish markets, we also ensure that minimum prices are maintained at those markets in order for fishers to receive decent remuneration throughout the year.
We further encourage payment for quality by creating specifications with fishers in order to pay them higher prices at the fish market in return for products meeting the quality criteria defined on the specifications.
N°3
Provide a service to fishing vessels
We have set up many partnerships with commercial fishers and provide them with market outlets for their entire catch throughout the year while ensuring our partnership is a win-win for both parties.
For instance, for the gillnetters in Conquet, we have a buyer who is the designated contact for fishers and provides them with this service. Every day we buy the entire catch from those five boats and provide them with a dedicated lorry to secure the shipment.
Commercial fishers
Every day, we cultivate close relationships with fishing vessels near our sites. We work to provide them with permanent market outlets throughout the year. We also build partnerships that enable us to better use the catch and pay higher prices than those of the fish markets in order to minimise any unsold products at the market.
Fish markets
Our presence at the fish markets enables us to have a close relationship with everyone involved there. Our daily interactions enable us to improve operations, anticipate catch information, prepare for and organise seasonal catches, and provide assistance if there is a risk of unsold products.
In addition, our managers represent the business sector by attending port councils, which are consulted for matters relating to the port including its administrative demarcation, forecast budget, prices, concessions and new amendments, new construction projects for operations, and specific police regulations.
That is why, for instance, Emilie Cloarec chairs the Guilvinec port council
Professional associations
As the leader in our sector, we know that it is our job to participate in the sector’s discussions around its modernisation and collaborations between various links in the chain.
That is why we are involved with the following professional associations, for which we hold mandates :
N°1
Union du Mareyage Français (UMF) uniting 14 local professional groups and syndicates spread along France’s coastlines.
It operates as a network and aims to:
- Represent and promote the interests of fish and seafood wholesalers to public authorities and sector partners.
- Generate social dialogue in order to modernise national collective agreements for fish and seafood wholesalers and shippers.
- Unite and steer collective initiatives to support companies’ development.
N°2
France Filière Pêche
Founded in 2010 in response to economic, environmental and foodstuff challenges in the French ocean fishing sector, France Filière Pêche is a unique association that encourages economic players in the sector to meet each other and discuss topics. Designed to encompass all professions, it includes fishers, fish and seafood wholesalers, processers, supermarkets and fishmongers in France.
It also provides a place for collaboration and dialogue to support the sector’s longevity by implementing sector-wide initiatives that engage every link in the production (fishers) and retail (wholesalers, processers, supermarkets and artisanal fishmongers) chain in order to:
- Improve the knowledge of halieutic resources and fishing techniques and introduce innovations throughout the sector
- Support operators and transfer innovations to companies
- Lead and steer projects structuring the sector
- Showcase French fishery products and raise awareness about the sector’s best practices
N°3
Association Bretonne des Acheteurs de Produits de la Pêche (ABAPP) includes all fishery product buyers working at the 13 fish markets in Brittany from Cancale to Quiberon.
ABAPP was created by a handful of determined fishery product buyers. They believed that access to the fish markets should be opened up by making inter-port business more flexible. Their concept was to imagine Brittany as one single port. And to work at these fish markets, financial cover needed to be put in place and health certification obtained.
Today, ABAPP manages the buyers’ and fish markets’ financial transactions:
- It guarantees and initiates payment on the right date to producers
- It controls the buyer risk and manages their financial cover
- It guarantees that payments it has initiated are collected for all of its members
- It collects and pays out fees and taxes for fish market sales
N°4
Association Centre Atlantique des Acheteurs de Produits de la Pêche (ACAAPP)
This association brings together all fishery product buyers working in the fish markets from La Turballe to Royan.
Founded in 2002, it includes buyers of fishery products landed by fishers who sell their catch at the fish markets in three departments on the Atlantic coast: Loire Atlantique, Vendée and Charente Maritime. Its key roles are to:
- Manage financial transactions at the fish markets.
- Guarantee and initiate payment on the right date to producers
- Control the buyer risk and manage their financial cover
- Guarantee that payments it has initiated are collected for all of its members
- Collect and pay out fees and taxes for fish market sales
- Manage all cash flows, the association’s finances and satellite companies’ finances.
N°5
LOPF
Loire Océan Filière Pêche (LOPF) is an inter-profession entity located in Vendée which brings together everyone in the sector: fishers, producer organisations, fish markets, fish and seafood wholesalers, carriers, fishmongers and more. In this way, it helps to encourage dialogue between local professionals and tackle the sector’s challenges.
N°6
HALIOTIKA
La Cité de la Pêche is a must-visit attraction when you stay in the Bigouden region. With its recreated trawler, fish market tours, cooking lessons, kids’ activities, treasure hunts, langoustine bar and more, you’ll soon know all there is to know about ocean fishing!
We sit on the board of directors and help decide the focus areas for this iconic museum dedicated to the history of Brittany’s fishing sector
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