Investigation reveals ‘sprawling empire’ of 5 Dutch companies dominating Europe’s fishing industry

Five Dutch companies shape “an highly powerful oligopoly” that dominates European fishing, according to a caller investigation into their usage of marine resources and nationalist funds. 

Nicknamed nan “Big Five” - Parlevliet & Van der Plas (P&P), Cornelis Vrolijk, Van der Zwan, Alda Seafood and nan De Boer family - generated €2.4 cardinal successful gross successful 2023, according to nan study from France-based NGO BLOOM.

For nan first time, nan “sprawling and opaque empire” of these sportfishing supermajors has been mapped.  It claims that they person each been progressive successful awesome scandals - from illegal fishing successful Peru to corruption successful Namibia.

"Thanks to a web of opaque subsidiaries, a fleet of technologically over-equipped vessels, and an fierce takeover strategy, these multinationals reign complete world fishing,” says Laetitia Bisiaux, caput of nan business sportfishing run astatine BLOOM. 

“Behind a façade of competition, these companies cooperate closely: they subordinate forces to crush nan different players successful nan sector.”

How do nan Big Five predominate European and world fishing?

Through their web of 400 subsidiaries, BLOOM’s study says nan Big Five power astir 230 vessels - including nan world's largest sportfishing vessel, nan 145-metre-long Annelies Ilena.

It estimates their mixed capacity astatine 260,000 tonnes, a sixth of nan full EU sportfishing fleet’s gross tonnage. If you lined them each up, they would span 10 kilometres - a two-hour stepping distance.

The investigation, conducted pinch nan Dutch consortium of investigative journalists Spit, reveals that astir of nan companies are vertically integrated. This intends they power nan full accumulation concatenation - from drawback to plate, trawler to fish-and-chip shop - connected a world scale.

This enables them, it alleges, to bargain food from their ain subsidiaries astatine artificially debased prices to trim nan wages paid to crews (who are often paid a stock of nan catch) and to transportation profits to tax havens. 

And, BLOOM says, their outsized beingness is giving them undue lobbying sway. Through world subsidiaries, nan Big Five are members of astatine slightest 15 lobbying organisations successful nan EU.

The study adds that this “poses superior problems to nan soft moving of democracies done their power complete nationalist decision-making.”

Where do nan Big Five sportfishing companies operate?

First, a speedy explainer. The EU sets sportfishing drawback limits, which are past shared among countries done nationalist sportfishing quotas.

Fishing companies acquisition these authorities successful nan shape of individual transferable sportfishing quotas (ITQs); they are their astir important assets, and tin beryllium sold among each other, utilized arsenic collateral for loans, leased retired to smaller companies, and utilized to estimate connected nan market. 

The Dutch, BLOOM says, were speedy to understand and utilization these dynamics successful nan 1980s, buying up sportfishing authorities and fleets successful different countries erstwhile prices were low. Being first connected nan segment pinch ample freezer-trawlers besides enabled them to capitalise connected nan truth that sportfishing authorities are often distributed connected nan ground of humanities catches, creating a feedback loop of food and wealth. 

The caller study specifications really nan Big Five activity together successful bid to excavation aliases speech sportfishing quotas truthful they tin run much efficiently. They besides jointly ain subsidiaries and person shared ownership successful immoderate ships.

After the Netherlands, these companies person invested nan astir superior successful France. 24 business vessels holding a ample proportionality of French quotas run nether nan French emblem via their subsidiaries.

The UK ranks 3rd successful position of vessels owned by nan Big Five (18), enabling them to support power of sportfishing areas and quotas contempt Brexit. In position of tonnage, Germany ranks 2nd contempt having only 7 vessels, fixed their ample size. 

A 2nd BLOOM investigation, besides released today, delves into nan nationalist subsidies granted to Dutch shipowners successful nan aftermath of Brexit. It finds that nan Big Five received €53.2 cardinal of nan €135 cardinal package intended to compensate struggling fishers for a nonaccomplishment of entree to British waters.

Furthermore, nan main beneficiaries of these subsidiaries were trawlers equipped pinch electrodes for destructive electrical fishing, and immoderate trawlers which haven’t really been blocked by Brexit.

How nan Big 5 prosecute successful destructive sportfishing practices

The Annelies Ilena, co-owned by P&P and Alda Seafood while flying a Polish flag, catches 400 tonnes of food a day, arsenic overmuch arsenic 1,000 small-scale sportfishing boats bring in. 

It mightiness beryllium nan biggest mill ship, but for BLOOM experts, it is emblematic of nan wholesale industrialisation of nan fishing sector. 

All but 1 of nan Big Five’s 230-strong fleet engages successful nan astir destructive types of fishing: pelagic trawling, bottommost trawling and demersal seining (pulling a nett crossed nan oversea floor). These techniques are deployed successful nan English Channel, North Sea, West Africa, Indian Ocean, Pacific, and nan Arctic.

According to BLOOM, “their business logic is based connected gigantic vessels and monolithic extraction capacity, which is incompatible pinch nan preservation of patient marine ecosystems.”

The study besides claims nan profit from this “extractivist attack to chaotic resources” is now being transferred into existent estate, including high-rise residential buildings.

Fisheries economists fearfulness that this could beryllium a informing awesome that, arsenic a consequence of overfishing, nan return connected investments successful nan sportfishing manufacture is declining. 

Parlevliet & Van der Plas, Cornelis Vrolijk, Van der Zwan, Alda Seafood and nan De Boer family person been contacted for comment.