Sapmer and Via Ocean are selling off their vessels and shutting down operations, revealing the increasingly dire circumstances facing the French tuna-fishing fleet.
Via Ocean, formerly known as Armement Saupiquet, is being liquidated by its current owner, Bolton Foods, via its subsidiary Tri Marine. The Concarneau, France-based company is selling its three French-flagged purse-seine vessels, the Via Avenir, the Via Mistral, Via Alizé – the latter of which was purchased in 2019 and delivered in 2021. All three vessels fish for tuna in the Atlantic Ocean.
Noting demand for canned tuna has fallen while costs have risen and its share of the Atlantic’s yellowfin tuna quota has fallen, the company said in a press release it is facing “major and insoluble” difficulties and has opened an “information-consultation procedure concerning a project to definitively cease its activities,” according to Ouest France.
“Since 2018, Via Océan has been operating in a market marked by the very sharp increase in its operational costs, the decline in fishing capacity and a drop in demand. [Despite] major efforts to counter these market trends," in particular through investments allowing the expansion and modernization of its fleet, the company has continued to suffer losses, according to the release. “In the absence of prospects for improvement in the market by 2024-2025, Via Ocean will therefore consult its … on a plan to cease its activities from 1 December.”
Yves L’Helgouach, representing the French sailors who work onboard the three Via Ocean vessels through the General Confederation of Labor union, said 58 jobs were at risk in Concarneau and Finistère, France.
“It's serious what's happening there. It's a death sentence for fishing in Concarneau. It risks exploding in the days to come,” he said on 23 November.
Similarly, Sapmer, which is based in France’s Reunion Island but which has an office in Concarneau, has sold its four Mauritius-flagged tuna-fishing vessels operating in the Indian Ocean after facing financial difficulties. It previously operated nine purse-seiners but it has downsized its fleet since 2020. The Manapany, which had been for sale since 2021, was sold in July 2023 to an Ecuadorian firm, and its three remaining vessels are being sold to a South American buyer, according to Le Télégramme. Sapmer did not identify either buyer specifically.
Sapmer will retain its three France-flagged purse-seiners, as well as four toothfish freezer longliners and one lobster potfishing vessel.
Sapmer CEO Adrien De Chomereau told Ouest-France a 60 percent drop in quotas and other new regulations forced him to excise the Mauritius-based fleet from the company’s books “in order to ensure the sustainability of the company and its jobs.”
"This sustainability requires a stable regulatory environment, and a tight, maneuverable, and efficient fleet,” De Chomereau said. “These three vessels, in a local Mauritian context which had become particularly unstable, posed a threat to the sustainability of Sapmer, which is why we have made this difficult decision."
Sapmer’s Mauritius operations grossed USD 6.1 million (EUR 5.6 million) in revenue in 2022, but suffered a USD 3.7 million (EUR 3.4 million) loss, according to its annual financial report.
Sapmer has offered its 33 French employees working within its Mauritius operations the opportunity to transfer to other positions within the company.
Photo courtesy of Sapmer
