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Video length: 2 min
Vendée: the eel on the verge of extinction
In Vendée, it has been forbidden to fish for eels for a year. Long consumed without moderation, the species is now threatened with extinction.
(France 2)
In Vendée, it has been forbidden to fish for eels for a year. Long consumed without moderation, the species is now threatened with extinction.
Eel is the wealth of the estuaries and tides of the French coast. But this fish that was enjoyed without limit in the 1980s is now in danger of extinction. In Vendée, Jean used to fish for eel in traps according to the tides of the nearby ocean. This has been banned since 2023. “Eel is a delicious fish. You are forbidden to eat it.”he laments. The hundreds of small owners who maintain this environment essential to biodiversity are becoming discouraged. Fishing is not the only enemy of the eel.
There are many obstacles: pollution, parasites, and also dams that prevent this fish from going up the waterways. 15 km upstream from the marshes, two fishermen count the eels that manage to climb to the top. They would never have made it there without a ramp. The fish thus climbs several dozen meters.
