The Dutch fishery sector is shrinking and this does not just affect fishermen
Photo: Wageningen / Dutch Fish Marketing Board
(NETHERLANDS, 6/22/2023)
The consequences of the shrinkage of the North Sea fishery, due to the accumulation of challenges such as the pulse ban, high fuel prices, Brexit and the construction of offshore wind farms, are affecting the land-based enterprises that depend on North Sea fishery. In doing so, the socio-economic scale, such as employment and turnover, of these onshore enterprises is much larger than that of North Sea fisheries at sea itself. This is stated in an impact analysis prepared by Wageningen Economic Research on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.
In 2021, the Netherlands had 346 land-based companies dependent on North Sea fisheries. They operate in the fish-processing chain or supply industry and are called the fish cluster.