One of the problems facing the small-scale fishing sector is a lack of dedicated representation in the official bodies of the profession. This is particularly the case in France where small-scale fishers are struggling to unite to defend their interests. For Bertrand Cazalet, Secretary and Legal Adviser of the Syndicat professionnel des pêcheurs petits métiers d’Occitanie (SPMO – Professional Union of Small Scale Fishers of Occitania), Fisheries Producers’ Organisations (FPOs) provide a tool that European small-scale fishers would do well to invest to secure their future, and particularly so in the Mediterranean to better defend their traditional management methods based on polyvalence and strong territorial linkages.