The peripheral fisher is a young fisherman around 30 years of age who lives in one of the EU’s outermost regions, either in the Atlantic or even further afield in the Indian Ocean or the Caribbean. He comes from a small community where fishing is a tradition. Fishing for a livelihood was the logical thing to do, and he learned the ropes with his relatives after finishing his studies. He bought his first boat, a second-hand 12-15 m vessel with the help of his family, but it is showing signs of age. He fishes on a full-time basis and goes out daily to catch coastal species and sometimes pushes further offshore for small pelagic fish, though he knows it’s risky as his boat, even with its big inboard engine, is not designed for high seas.
He loves his island, but fishing is tough: storms can be devastating, the weather seems increasingly severe and unpredictable, and the remoteness means additional costs to his small fishing business. He has witnessed the marine environment change: sargassum events that clog up the sea, pollution from agricultural runoff, and plastics, and his gut feeling is that it will not get any better soon.
He needs to comply with many regulations, though he knows that not everyone does and that overfishing is ongoing. He laments the competition with recreational fishers, poachers, and large-scale fleets who may target the same pelagic stocks. He is even competing with his peers for licences, which has degraded the spirit of cooperation in the community. However, he operates individually and doesn’t have the means to change this.
If fishing in the Atlantic, he may be concerned that his fishing space will shrink with projects for offshore wind turbines and marine protected areas he has heard about, while, if fishing in the Indian Ocean, his primary concerns are about the large number of other foreign fishing vessels which he strongly suspects infringe into areas they should not be fishing, thus impacting his catches.
He can appreciate the rationale for becoming green and sustainable fishing, but he gets frustrated at CFP measures disregarding local circumstances and laments the lack of derogations. He admits that the assistance from EU aid for some of his fishing costs was helpful, but it is now drowned by spiralling fuel and other operating expenses. He can sell his fish at a premium on local markets; otherwise, it can’t compete with imports, leaving him out of pocket. Still, being able to put a fish on the dinner table and generate his income is paramount, and he would not give this up for the world.
He knows that his options to do anything else are limited and considers himself lucky to have his boat as this will give him the capacity to finance a new one and stay in business. He has seen many of his friends struggle to get the initial capital together, and many are put off by the complex licensing system and poor landing infrastructure, even though fishing could give a job to so many and plays a crucial role in the provision of protein and micro-nutrients to the local population.