Training Peter to feed Paul

« The association runs a tight ship but when there is a need to invest, it has no option but to turn to outside patronage. »

Alexandre Le Ster

At the end of the 1990s, for 16,000 tonnes of fish sold annually in auction at the Guilvinec market, 400 were removed from sale. When a species is over abundant, it reaches its floor price (fixed by kilo each year) and the fish are automatically removed from sale.
They are then sold to the animal feed sector or simply destroyed.
Given this obvious waste, a manager from the fish producers and the chairman of the Banque Alimentaire du Finistère decided to launch an original project: recover the fish which are too cheap, then get the long-term unemployed to use them in the preparation of meals for delivery to the disadvantaged via the Banque Alimentaire and Secours Populaire (French humanitarian association).

How about some vegetables with your fish?

The "Les Paniers de la mer" association thus came into being in Autumn 1997. It enables those in most need to be provided with food while also ensuring training for the long-term unemployed. Each year, twelve people selected from the records of the ANPE (French national employment agency) or the income support body, are given the chance to spend six months in training workshops (alternating theory and practice) with the chance to find work in the fish processing sector where labour is in short supply.
Over the years, Les Paniers de la mer has diversified. Based in a manor house in Kérambourg (29), they have set up a second training course in organic market gardening according to the same principle of alternating training and work. And, in order to carry out the refurbishment required in the old building used for technical training, they have called on the assistance of the Veolia foundation together with other partners (Caisse d'Epargne, Fondation Mérieux). From now on, there's plenty of fennel and carrots to serve with the gurnard.
The very popular formula prompted the association to continue to expand its activities. In early 2006, the Veolia foundation helped it with a new grant to consolidate the quality of its two training entities.