A project by a French semi-public company to participate in the creation of an industrial fishing port in Oman and import tonnes of seafood products by cargo plane or boat has made waves in the Brittany region. The company, Keroman, which is nearly 60% owned by the Lorient Agglomération and 4% by the City of Lorient, has come under fire for the possible environmental impact, at a time when President Emmanuel Macron has announced that he wants to devote €700 million to the energy transition of the fishing industry.

In 2021, Keroman decided to invest in a simplified joint-stock company named Ker-Oman, in a Breton-style play on words. Ker-Oman is involved in the development of a 250-hectare port complex in Duqm, 500 kilometers from Muscat, the capital of the sultanate of Oman. The site, which is five times larger than Lorient's port, France's second-largest in terms of tonnage, is to become a world-class fishing hub, capable of handling 200,000 tonnes of seafood annually five years from now, with a 5,000-tonne floating dock. The project is estimated to cost €200 million, plus €80 million for state-of-the-art equipment (refrigeration facilities, processing plant, fish auction, training center, etc.).

Its operation will be "directly inspired by Lorient's maritime ecosystem." All local companies have been invited to "take part in this development, whatever their speciality – naval, fishing or agri-food," according to the enthusiastically superlative brochure on the Lorient Agglomération website.

The brochure points out that Oman's fish-bearing waters extend over 535,000 square kilometers in the Arabian Sea. And Lorient's facilities need to secure their seafood supplies. Auction sales have been declining. In 2022, 18,109 tonnes were landed, compared with 19,335 in 2021, while around 80,000 tonnes were processed on-site. The Ker-Oman project is expected to bolster business by bringing in fresh fish by cargo plane.

Local environmentalists have said they are "flabbergasted" by the project. "Including packaging, cold chain and transport, we have calculated that the carbon footprint of a fish shipped from Oman would be 10 times greater than one caught here," said Damien Girard, a local councilor. "We're hearing talk of hundreds of thousands of tonnes being imported in the long term. It's a 'recarbonation' of the sector!"

In addition to this "disastrous" energy impact, the elected representative and his group are concerned about the populations and fishermen of Oman, whose fishing resources will be industrially exploited. They question the environmental impact of the operation and have asked for access to any studies on this aspect, to no avail.

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