Synergies of fishing tourism on the coasts of the English Channel: State of play and diagnosis

Synergies of fishing tourism on the coasts of the English Channel: State of play and diagnosis

The study presented (Forato, 2014) is realised as a part of GIFS. The objective is to present an overview of sites of collaborating fishing with tourism along the shores of the English Channel and to identify incentives and obstacles for the development of these activities.

A first survey was carried out by contacting various tourism stakeholders, the groups are focused on 4 of the FEP (FLAG) and other media using information to identify projects and involving actors. Secondly, in-depth interviews were conducted with stakeholders. The semi-structured interviews were used to discuss various topics such as the purpose and origin of the subject, interest in the development of this type of collaboration and the incentives or difficulties encountered in the implementation of gateways between these two sectors.

In the first inventory, various valuable tourist activities with coastal fisheries have been identified. The list here is not complete; the choice was to focus the study on the activities where fisheries stakeholders are involved:

• Activities of diversification set up by fishermen and which has supported fisheries;
• Activities where fishermen are actors among others (involvement of other regional players, politicians etc.);
• Activities proposed by tourism stakeholders and which serves for both fishing and tourism.

These activities are thus characterized by different degrees of involvement of the fishermen.

Five activities were selected and further analyzed in detail: direct sales, fishing-tourism, maritime festivals, visits of fish markets and fishing towns.

Direct sales

Direct selling of fish remains a traditional activity present all along the coast of the eastern Channel. However, it is not organized in the same way everywhere. To the east of the channel, that is to say, from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais to Normandy, there is a dominance of permanent market stalls, either in bigger cities (Boulogne-sur-Mer, Dieppe) or smaller (Etaples, Crotoy). We also note the presence of many small stalls on the beaches of Normandy, especially due to the landing of Doris, small traditional boats.

To the west of the English Channel up to Brittany, direct selling is less organized. This activity has the advantage of “the boat ass" for the most regular customers. No doubt this is due to the presence of a larger network in this area, including a large number of fish markets. Finally, the distribution network is different.

More generally, we observe a major attraction of direct sales face to face with the fishermen, particularly related to the economic context of the fishing itself which is becoming more difficult.

Figure 1 - Direct sale