During its annual conference, Ifremer has exceptionally mentioned the impacts of fishing gear like the bottom trawl.
by Martine Valo
After a clear improvement from 2000, French fishing efforts to achieve reasonable management of resources have tended to stagnate for five years. “Improvement marks the step and puts us in the face of sustainability,” admitted the French Research Institute for the Operation of the Sea (Ifremer), Thursday, February 9, during its annual state conference Fish populations. The 2022 assessment appears “halftone”, he admitted.
“Positive evolution remains very slow, observes Alain Biseau, biologist of peaches at Ifremer. Our models may not be sufficient and our forecasts perhaps too optimistic.” According to him, we should reduce a Little the exploitation of populations in order to reach the level where they are able to renew themselves. Coming to this 100 % “sustainable maximum yield” was the objective that the European Union had set itself for … 2020.
According to the diagnosis of researchers, out of the 340,000 tonnes of fish landed in mainland France in 2021, a third (33 %) came from a population victim of overfishing and 2 % came from “collapsed” stocks. Half (51 %), on the contrary, emanated from stocks considered to be durable, a result a little better than the previous year. Indeed, the 56 % share evaluated at first for 2020 was then revised at 48 %. In question, the recovery of the mackerel – one of the large contingents of French fishing – somewhat overestimated.
paradox
Paradoxically, the number of populations that are not overwhelmed continues to increase: it went from 56 in 2017 to 72 in 2021, even if the activity of the sector is essentially based on fifty species of fish, crustaceans and Molluscs. In front of the western facades of France, the scallop appears in good condition, such as the Baudroy, the hake, the herring, the flower ray. As for the red tuna, it seems to be drawn. “We cannot say that he is in good condition, but he found levels of the 1970s,” said Alain Biseau.
The observation is spoiled for the bar of the Manche and the North Sea, as well as the sole of the Gulf of Gascogne: they are not worn at best, but their stocks could be reconstituted. The mackerel remains more overwhelmed in the Atlantic and the sardine of the Gulf of Gascogne even more. It is worse for the cod of the northern and Celtic seas and the hake of the Mediterranean: they rank in the category “collapsed”.
For the first time, the Halieuats also presented an overview of the peaches in the Outremers. The populations considered in good condition ranges from 51 % to Reunion at 11 % in Mayotte. And the share of the unknown varies even more since 79 % of the populations are not evaluated at Guadeloupe, 62 % in Martinique…
You have 48.92% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.