Aquaculture development in France: plans and the raw material issue

In early March 2024, Pascal Goumain, president of Saumon de France, stated that the organization's salmon farms in Cherbourg represent part of France's food future. In an interview, he spoke about plans to adapt the farm to climate change and referred to official state support. According to him, the French Ministry of Agriculture set a goal to reach a production level of 20,000 tonnes of salmon in the country by 2030. Later, in late 2025, he noted the state's lag in achieving the status of a leading aquaculture country.

The promotion of aquaculture by the government and industry is justified by the need to meet the growing demand for seafood while simultaneously reducing pressure on depleted oceans. In 2021, former Minister of the Sea Annick Girardin stated that catch volumes were insufficient to feed consumers. Two years later, the General Commissioner for Strategy and Planning indicated that responsible development of the industry could expand supply in the context of climate change and overfishing without harming the fishing sector. Currently, France ranks second in the European Union after Spain in the production volume of farmed seafood.

The global growth of the aquaculture sector, valued at 313 billion dollars, is driven by the concept of reducing marine catch by increasing farming volumes. As a result, half of the world's consumed seafood comes from farms. Nevertheless, two-thirds of global aquaculture consists of species fed with fishmeal—a protein-rich powder made from wild fish. Using such feed for species popular in France (salmon, shrimp, trout, sea bass, and sea bream) accelerates ocean depletion. According to Daniel Pauly, leader of the Sea Around Us project at the University of British Columbia, the assessment of aquaculture's real impact should begin precisely with feed.