Fleet characteristics
Flatfish is a general term for several marine fish species. Sole and plaice are the most important species, but turbot, brill, dab, lemon sole, Greenland halibut, megrim and flounder are also of importance.
In the EU, most flatfish are caught by fleets from the Netherlands, the United King-dom, Denmark, Germany, France and Belgium. Flatfish are mainly caught by active bottom trawls with numerous others species, constituting a “mixed fishery”.
Aquaculture is not very common in Europe, but some flat fish farms exist, mainly in Spain.
Market
Flatfish is mostly sold frozen, but also fresh (niche markets). Two lines of product presentation can be distinguished: whole fish (mainly sole and plaice) and processed seafood products like ready to cook/fillets.
Flatfish is mostly consumed in southern countries like Italy, Spain and France, and also in Germany.
The price are very different between the species, from 1€/kg for plaice to 12€/kg for sole and turbot.
The European flatfish products are in competition with foreign flatfish but also with white fish species on the same market.
The European flatfish sector faces several challenges influencing the competitiveness of the sector :
SUCCESS' objectives
Given this challenges list, the SUCCESS project will try to answer to the following broad questions by their implications within workpackages (WP) :