Lorient fishing company Scapêche is scaling back its fleet dramatically, with seven of its vessels due to be decommissioned under the French government’s post-Brexit support initiative.
Of the company’s 22 vessels, four trawlers, two crabbers and a longliner are coming out of service.
In the 30-35 metre range, the vessels heading for decommissioning are the medium-sized trawlers Corail, Roselend and Iroise, as well as Héliotrope, a former trawler which was converted some years ago to work as a longliner.
The crabbers leaving the fleet are the 24-metre Zubernoa and the 17-metre Sergagil. These six vessels have already been delivered to Bordeaux for scrapping and 45-metre trawler Jean-Claude Coulon, which was built at Piriou in 2005, is also to be decommissioned in Brest.
The vessels leaving the Scapêche fleet have operated across North Sea, West of Scotland, Celtic Sea and Bay of Biscay waters. Taking out the Scapêche trawlers is expected to have a significant effect on volumes of fish reaching the Lorient auction. The company’s vessels have a track record of landing around 12,000 tonnes anually to the French market.
