“It’s becoming more and more difficult to find competent sailors, who are prepared to start at 2:30am from Monday to Saturday,” Yhuel said. “The schools are full, but there’s no one on the docks! We need to go out to sea to make a living. When we can’t find French workers, we use foreigners, Senegalese or people from Mayotte as is the case with a lot of other professions.”

A cigarette in his mouth, Captain Renaud Yhuel sets sail in the direction of Quiberon, in Brittany, accompanied by his two sailors, Fabrice and Souleymane. It is 3am. The Belladone has just left Lorient, its home port. After a short nap – just long enough to arrive at their destination – the crew raises the nets cast the day before and begins unloading fish, separating them and then storing the nets, all while working to the rhythm of the mechanical net hauler. The men toil non-stop from 4am until 2pm. The grueling work pays €2,000-€3,000 per month, depending on the catch of the day: wrasse, conger, sole, rays, spider crabs, marlin, plaice, bass or whiting-pout. “This net belonged to my father. I bought it from him when he retired,” explained the captain. “It’s not a very attractive profession. We don’t keep track of our hours.” In recent years, a labour shortage in Brittany’s fishing industry has hit small and large businesses, including some of the region’s largest operators, such as Scapêche, Porcher and Houle. “It’s becoming more and more difficult to find competent sailors, who are prepared to start at 2:30am from Monday to Saturday,” Yhuel said. “The schools are full, but there’s no one on the docks! We need to go out to sea to make a living. When we can’t find French workers, we use foreigners, Senegalese or people from Mayotte as is the case with a lot of other professions.”