BLOOM’s research activities
BLOOM engages in independent research to produce critical analysis and expertise, providing an alternative perspective to the dominant lines of thought about fishing as well as the lack of transparency surrounding data on public funding.
BLOOM is inspired by the scientific work that Daniel Pauly conducted with his teams at the University of British Columbia in Canada and desires, naturally on a much smaller scale (it is a very large university research team), to create a similar research hub in France, free from various pressures and from productivist dogma. Today in France, as in many powerful fishing nations (Spain, Portugal, Iceland, Norway, Japan etc.), researchers are often still trained in a culture of optimizing productivity and returns.
They consequently struggle to integrate the environmental and ecosystemic dimension into their thought and management model, a phenomenon brilliantly described and analysed by Daniel Pauly in the article (an essential read): “Beyond duplicity and ignorance in global fisheries” (2009).
BLOOM’s scientific publications
Public Subsidies
25 June 2021 – V. Le Brenne et al., Sustainable objectives and commitments deceived by fisheries subsidies for ‘temporary cessations’ in times of COVID. Marine Policy, (2021).
29 September 2020 – A. Schuhbauer et al., The Global Fisheries Subsidies Divide Between Small- and Large-Scale Fisheries. Frontiers in Marine Science (2020).
7 September 2020 – D. Skerritt et al., A 20-year retrospective on the provision of fisheries subsidies in the European Union. ICES Journal of Marine Science (2020).
23 March 2019 – F. Le Manach et al., Public subsidies have supported the development of electric trawling in Europe. Marine Policy (2019).
Misleading labels
4 May 2020 – F. Le Manach et al., Small is beautiful, but large is certified: A comparison between fisheries the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) features in its promotional materials and MSC-certified fisheries. Plos One (2020).
Industrial Fisheries
21 September 2019 – A. Coulter et al., Using harmonized historical catch data to infer the expansion of global tuna fisheries. Fisheries research (2019).
9 January 2017 – T. Cashion et al., Most fish destined for fishmeal production are food-grade fish. Fish&Fisheries (2017).
Consumption
September 2024 – C. Roberts et al., Rethinking sustainability of marine fisheries for a fast-changing planet , in Nature‘s scientific journal ‘npj Ocean Sustainability’ (2024).
6 january 2015 – J. Bénard-Capelle et al., Fish mislabelling in France: substitution rates and retail types. Peerj (2015).
Deep-Sea Fishing
29 September 2012 – S. Villasante et al., Sustainability of deep-sea fish species under the European Union Common Fisheries Policy. Ocean & Coastal Management (2012).
BLOOM’s studies
Consumption
October 2024 – Toxic tuna. Chronicle of a health scandal
September 2024 – 11 golden rules for truly social-ecological fisheries. A redefinition of the concept of sustainability towards a brighter future for the ocean and communities
January 2021 – S. Shea Kwok Ho and K. Ho Ka Yan, A comparison report : the 2009/10, 2014/15 and 2019/20 surveys on shark consumption habits and attitudes in Hong Kong
March 2013 – February 2014 – Fish labelling fraud in France. (French)
2013 – Ranking of French Supermarkets. Ranking the sustainability of French supermarkets regarding fish products (French)
June 2011 – Guide to Sustainable Fish Consumption (French)
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
April 2024 – Gold with the wind. How the trawling lobby reaps the benefits of offshore wind and sacrifices artisanal fishing
March 2024 – Bulldozed. An unprecedented analysis of trawling in European marine “protected” areas
February 2023 – French Marine protected Areas, a network of hollow shells blocked by the French state and representatives of the industrial fishing industry.
December 2022 – Much ado about nothing. Fake marine protected areas, a real endorsement of industrial fishing. A groundbreaking analysis on maritime protection policy in France from 2009 to 2022
November 2022 – Zero ambition. Marine protected areas that protect inaccessible and unexploited areas. A new analysis of France’s marine protection policy
October 2022 – The assault of industrial fishing on French so-called marine ‘protected’ areas. Quantifying the fishing intensity of industrial fisheries
For a transition of fisheries
January 2024 – Time for a U-turn. For a social-ecological transition of fisheries
Fossil fuels
November 2023 – Total Energies’ dangerous silence on the carbone budget. How TotalEnergies is evading a key climate change issue
May 2023 – The renewable energy joker. How TotalEnergies uses renewable energy to greenwash its climate-wrecking projects
Fisheries in Africa
May 2024 – The tuna’s black box. Knowns, Unknowns and Discrepancies in the Tuna Trade.
May 2024 – From heaven to hell. A comparative analysis of the socioeconomic and ecological footprint between the European industrial f ishing and Maldivian coastal fishing for tropical tuna
November 2023 – Willful ignorance. How European retailers turn a blind eye to the social-ecological destructiveness of tuna fisheries
September 2023 – The Death Label. The MSC’s fake sustainability but true destruction of tuna populations
May 2023 – Canned brutality. Human rights abuses in the tuna industry
April 2023 – Tuna war games. The story of a fatal technological race against tuna and marine life
April 2023 – Lining up the ducks. Industrial tuna fishing lobbies line up their political allies to defend their destructive practices in Africa. Decoding ‘behind the scenes’ politics and debunking false arguments.
March 2023 – Eyes wide shut. Statistics finally made available show that the French State does not monitor its distant water fleets in Africa
January 2023 – The E.U. under the rule of tuna lobbies. Ground-breaking revelations on the domination of tuna lobbies and the involvement of public powers in the pillaging of African waters
November 2022 – The wild-west of tuna fisheries in Africa. The sheer power of an outlawed industrial sector. The guilt of a complicit administration
Deep-Sea Fishing
March 2015 – The beauty and the beast. Follow up on the use of deep-sea shark liver oil in the beauty industry (French).
2012 – The impact of deep-sea fisheries on jobs in France (French)
November 2011 – The hideous price of beauty. An investigation into the market of deep-sea shark liver oil
September 2011 – Deep-Sea Fisheries in France: a Historical and Economic Perspective
May 2011 – The Ecological and Socio-Economic Profile of Deep-Sea Fisheries (French)
May 2011 – Do our children eat at-risk fish species? BLOOM’s Study on School Canteens (full manuscript – French)
May 2011 – At-risk fish species served in school canteens BLOOM’s study on school canteens (summary)
31 August – 3 Sept 2010 – Can ecosystem-based deep-sea fishing be sustained? Summary of an International Scientific Workshop 
November 2010 – The fraud of the French “Deep-Sea Mission” – Letter to French Minister of Ecology Jean-Louis Borloo: English version | French version Appendices to the letter to Jean-Louis Borloo, dated 2 November : English version | French version
Documents of partner organizations : Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and The Pew Environment Group
May 2011 – Information on the deep sea (French) Top 10 : Panorama of Deep-Sea Fishing in the North-East Atlantic
May 2011 – Deep Impact (French) Les faits, rien que les faits… sur les grands fonds marins et la pêche en eaux profondes dans l’Atlantique nord-est
March 2011 – The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition 2011-2012 Overview