The fish and seafood industry in Hauts-de-France
Hauts-de-France is a leader in Europe’s seafood industry, thanks to our concentration of players, large-scale processing and production, and comprehensive logistics infrastructure.
Hauts-de-France is a leader in Europe’s seafood industry, thanks to our concentration of players, large-scale processing and production, and comprehensive logistics infrastructure.
Boulogne-sur-Mer: Europe’s largest seafood processing center
Boulogne-sur-Mer is France’s top fishing port—and Europe’s #1 center for seafood processing.
Fast facts
- 350,000+ metric tons of fish and seafood products delivered to Boulogne-sur-Mer port for distribution and/or processing
- 270 businesses
- 5,700 direct jobs
Hauts-de-France is home to every segment of the industry:
- salting and smoking
- canning
- cutting and packaging
- fresh and frozen ready-to-serve specialties
- aquaculture including pure salmon
- and more, including food supplements, cosmeceuticals and animal feed ingredients
These leading companies chose Hauts-de-France
Hauts-de-France welcomes fish and seafood companies from around the world
What our region can do for you
When you do business in Hauts-de-France, you’ll benefit from a wide range of resources, including modern logistics, a deep pool of expertise, and a broad-based R&D cluster to help make your new ideas a reality.
The logistics you need
Hauts-de-France has a solid selection of resources for seafood logistics
Case study: Boulogne-sur-Mer’s road terminal
- dedicated, temperature-controlled refrigerated and frozen storage
- over 250,000 cubic meters of frozen storage capacity
- processing and packaging specialists
- every day Boulogne-sur-Mer serves over 100 destinations in France, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Spain and more.
Meet your future employees!
Hauts-de-France has a long tradition of expertise in the fish and seafood industry, built up through special training courses:
- Sea fishing and commercial fishing
- Fish processing (filleting, smoking, cutting and more)
- Food quality and safety
- Nutrition
Grow your own R&D in Hauts-de-France
Have a new project in mind? Tap into the R&D expertise of our fish and seafood specialists:
- Anses, the French agency for food, environmental and occupational health & safety
- IFREMER, French national institute for marine science research
- NAUSICAA, French National Sea Center
- Nouvelles Vagues, a regional seafood and aquaculture innovation platform
- the Aquimer cluster
Close-up: the Aquimer innovation cluster
Aquimer views fish and seafood as the food of the future, and is dedicated to:
- making the industry as a whole more competitive by meeting fish and seafood businesses’ needs
- helping companies grow through targeted R&D and improved technology
- maximizing available assets by creating new resources that promote sustainable development
Fast facts:
- 124 members in 81 businesses
- 20 skills centers
- 128 cluster projects
Earn quality labels and certifications!
Hauts-de-France lets you raise your business profile by qualifying for labels that guarantee safety and traceability for your customers—proven credibility.
Your opportunity to set up in Hauts-de-France
We are France’s #1 exporter of food products with sales of €10bn, a direct result of the many resources you’ll find here.
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