Fishers of the Future: asking EU fishers

Over the last 4 months, a team of national researchers led by Tetra Tech and partners, a consortium contracted by the European Commission, have consulted about 200 fishers in the EU coastal member states in their local languages to define who they are, how they live, and what drives them.

These consultations were the starting point for the Fishers of the Future study, an EU-wide participatory project that will examine the future role of fishers in society up to 2050.

Today’s fishers in 12 profiles

The research conducted during the study’s first phase led to characterising today’s fishers into 12 profiles that capture their different activities, the sea basins they operate in, and their age, education, and gender across the EU:

• The devoted fisher
• The pendulum fisher
• The mould-breaking fisher
• The proud foot fisher
• The peripheral fisher
• The innovative fisher
• The itinerant crew fisher
• The corporate fisher
• The disillusioned fisher
• The adaptive fisher
• The opportunistic fisher
• The optimistic fisher

You can consult the 12 profiles on this website.

Give your feedback on the fishers’ profiles

Fill in the EUSurvey to provide your feedback on the profiles, in any EU language, including how you see the profession evolve over 25 years.

We welcome your views until May 2024, when the study moves to its final phase. Your feedback will contribute to defining the fishers of the future.

Next steps

We are hosting a participatory event on Tuesday 19 March 2024, in Brussels and online, where we will discuss the profiles of today’s fishers and how they may evolve in the long term based on the factors and trends influencing the long-term sustainability and profitability of the sector and fishing communities’ well-being.

Further information about the agenda and details of the event is available on the website.

Following the event, selected stakeholders with a strategic perspective on the fishing sector overall will discuss the drivers, challenges, and possible scenarios for the future during three dedicated workshops. This is part of the study’s ongoing second phase, which explores the world’s future around fishers.

Background

The ‘Fishers of the Future’ study is a key element of the ‘Pact for Fisheries and Oceans’, announced in February 2023, to examine the future role of fishers in society up to 2050.

The project will delve into the hopes, fears, expectations, and needs of fishers to understand how the profession is likely to evolve by 2050. It will also explore the expansion of fishers' role in society beyond providing high-quality seafood.

Tetra Tech International Development is leading this study for the European Commission, with partner organisations Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management Europe and Ipsos, in addition to experts from F&S, Trinomics, and national researchers from 22 EU countries.

Links

Setting the scene for the Fishers of the Future

Foresight study on Fishers of the Future