“From March 15, the end of the voluntary biological rest period of the association of liners from the tip of Brittany, the member liners working in the Bay of Biscay will return to the sea to search for their main target species: the bass. Not without concern. Indeed, the year 2022 was for most of them the worst they had seen in their entire career.
A disastrous assessment shared with other fleets: the assessment of the bass fishery in the Bay of Biscay is 1,851 tonnes, or 76% of the authorized catch ceiling (2,446 tonnes). How to explain such a poor balance sheet when the management rules have been relaxed in recent years: increase in the national catch ceiling, quarterly limit, increase in the ceiling for off-licences, etc.? In short, the worse the fishing, the more the rules are relaxed…
The basics of “old-fashioned” fisheries management that drove the industry into the wall at the end of the century! So for lack of bass, it was necessary to refer to other species: pollack, snapper. But the situation for pollack seems even worse than that for bass! All the fishermen are unanimous, the pollack resource has decreased very sharply, and we find the same ingredients as for the bass: insufficient scientific knowledge, almost non-existent management measures, minimum size below the size of sexual maturity, intensive fishing in winter, unlimited recreational fishing, virtual disappearance of large individuals, etc. In 2021 in the Bay of Biscay, France landed 600 tonnes of pollack for a fishing quota of 1,200 tonnes, obtained from“high fight” by the Ministry of (over) Fishing. Look for the error!
"We therefore want to move to a situation that would bring down the entire Breton fishing industry..."
The year 2023 is therefore not starting under the best auspices. For handliners as for all the rest of the fleet, and in particular coastal trawlers which are threatened with a ban in marine protected areas from 2030. The latter, and in particular the Natura 2000 areas, represent a very important part of the coastal zone, and many ships have been working there without any restriction measures for several decades. We therefore want to move abruptly from a situation decried by ecologists where everything is allowed or almost, to a situation that would bring down the entire Breton fishing industry.
A disastrous assessment shared with other fleets: the assessment of the bass fishery in the Bay of Biscay is 1,851 tonnes, or 76% of the authorized catch ceiling (2,446 tonnes). How to explain such a poor balance sheet when the management rules have been relaxed in recent years: increase in the national catch ceiling, quarterly limit, increase in the ceiling for off-licences, etc.? In short, the worse the fishing, the more the rules are relaxed…
The basics of “old-fashioned” fisheries management that drove the industry into the wall at the end of the century! So for lack of bass, it was necessary to refer to other species: pollack, snapper. But the situation for pollack seems even worse than that for bass! All the fishermen are unanimous, the pollack resource has decreased very sharply, and we find the same ingredients as for the bass: insufficient scientific knowledge, almost non-existent management measures, minimum size below the size of sexual maturity, intensive fishing in winter, unlimited recreational fishing, virtual disappearance of large individuals, etc. In 2021 in the Bay of Biscay, France landed 600 tonnes of pollack for a fishing quota of 1,200 tonnes, obtained from“high fight” by the Ministry of (over) Fishing. Look for the error!
"We therefore want to move to a situation that would bring down the entire Breton fishing industry..."
The year 2023 is therefore not starting under the best auspices. For handliners as for all the rest of the fleet, and in particular coastal trawlers which are threatened with a ban in marine protected areas from 2030. The latter, and in particular the Natura 2000 areas, represent a very important part of the coastal zone, and many ships have been working there without any restriction measures for several decades. We therefore want to move abruptly from a situation decried by ecologists where everything is allowed or almost, to a situation that would bring down the entire Breton fishing industry.
Could we at some point find our sanity? Yes, fishing still needs to progress so that we can finally find a healthier ocean, but socio-economic issues must also be taken into account before defining dates and cutting measures with such strong impacts: fishing is a socio-ecosystem with many interdependencies between actors: auctions, fish trade, shipyards and equipment, etc. We have lost too many boats and sailors for too long, all to the benefit of increasingly intensive or industrial fishing. Applying such a measure is a jackpot for industrial fishing!
Furthermore, we ourselves could be prohibited from fishing for the sand eel that we use as bait with our small sand eel trawls, on the underwater dunes located in the areas concerned. It is essential to better protect the marine environment, but this cannot be done by sacrificing most of our industry.
Furthermore, we ourselves could be prohibited from fishing for the sand eel that we use as bait with our small sand eel trawls, on the underwater dunes located in the areas concerned. It is essential to better protect the marine environment, but this cannot be done by sacrificing most of our industry.
Full story courtesy by Gwen Pennarun, liner and president of the tip of Brittany liner association.