Setting the scene for the Fishers of the Future

Who are today’s fishers? Over the last three months, a team of national researchers led by Tetra Tech and partners, a consortium contracted by the European Commission, have consulted fishers in all 22 coastal EU Member States to define who they are, how they live, and what drives them. The research is one part of the Commission’s (Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries) foresight project on ‘Fishers of the Future’, launched in October 2023.

The findings of this first phase have now been compiled into 12 distinct profiles, which aim to encapsulate the features that exist across today’s fishers – from the devoted fisher with generational solid ties, to the adaptive fisher who combines part-time fishing with other income-generating activities such as pescatourism or the itinerant crew fisher who is contracted as crew on medium, large-scale or distant water EU fleets.

The profiles will be available for download on EUSurvey, and we will invite you to provide feedback that will be used to refine and strengthen the profiles and the study’s definition of fishers.

Next steps

The discussions with fishers also explored the condition in which the sector operates today and who the stakeholders are. This was the starting point for the study's ongoing second phase, which explores the future of the world around fishers. As part of this second phase, we invite you to contribute to a survey to provide your views on the key uncertainties and challenges fishers face, today and in the future. The aim is to understand the impact of these critical uncertainties and challenges and the potential that might result from them.

Please submit your answers before 1 March 2024.

To further enhance the development of ideas, the Commission will hold a participatory event on Tuesday 19 March 2024, in Brussels and online.

Register to join the event.

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 team of researchers who has been contracted to undertake the project is led by Tetra Tech International Development. Partner organisations include Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management Europe, Ipsos, F&S, and Trinomics.