“It’s all paperwork, we don’t see these scientists in the field“. The tone is set from the start. In Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie (Vendée), Sébastien Laborde, a fisherman at sea for years, came back up, like all his colleagues. He could indeed be deprived of the elver fishing for the 2022-2023 season. In a report, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea recommends a total cessation of harvesting to protect the species as much as possible.
Its ICES recommendations are generally followed by the European Union, hence the concern of fishermen. “We talk about it a lot at the moment, and we are afraid to go through it“, admits Sébastien Laborde. Glass eel fishing represents about 30% of its annual turnover. Like his colleagues, the professional has the right to recover 180 kilos of elvers from early December to early April. A quota that fully satisfies him.
The future of ships at stake
In the port of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, 17 boats fish for elvers, the eel’s baby also called alevin, during the authorized period. A significant source of income since the price per kilo is generally very high, around 250 to 300 euros today in France. So if the European Union were to ban the fishing of this type of fish within a few months, “there would be anger, a lot of anger” according to Sébastien Laborde.
We are told of an endangered species, but we, at sea and in the rivers, see quantities of fish that we had not seen for years. We especially regret that the scientists do not come to the field with us. It’s exhausting, we feel forgotten, not really listened to” – Sébastien Laborde, fisherman in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie.
– Marius Delaunay
For their part, the fishermen believe that they have made a lot of effort in recent years to protect the glass eel population as much as possible, with the gradual acceptance of quotas. They affirm it, they also help to develop the presence of fry in French rivers, with their restocking operations. Methods which consist in taking a population of glass eels in a given basin, already well supplied, to then bring them back to areas where the fry are less numerous.
“There is a delay”
Thierry Quéméner also fishes for elvers, near Le Croisic in Loire-Atlantique. He represents the profession nationally, and for him, “there is a discrepancy between what is observed in the field and the studies of these scientists. They should get out of their offices. In all the meetings I attend, at national and European level, we always talk about the knowledge of people in the field. In reality, it remains only beautiful declarations, never implemented. The people on the ground, the fishermen, who cares”.
The question of a possible abolition of glass eel fishing also worries elected officials, such as François Blanchet, the mayor of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie. Also regional councilor in charge of fishing in the Pays de la Loire region, he is offended “Russian roulette operated in Brussels“.”Each year, the quotas are put into play and open to discussion. For the fishermen, it necessarily creates a lot of concern, it is not viable in the long term“.
Like many fishermen, François Blanchet would like the European Union to review its quotas every two to three years, and not every year in order to offer more long-term visibility to professionals. In France, the Pays de la Loire region accounts for more than half of glass eel production, particularly in Loire-Atlantique and Vendée, with more than 200 fishing boats.