Le Figaro Bordeaux
Red wine, shallots, leeks, thyme, carrots and... a lamprey.
Is the main dish of the Bordeaux recipe, a culinary specialty of the Gironde, threatened?
In the grip of legal attacks from the Association for the Defense of Aquatic Environments (DMA) for several years, the sector is out of breath.
“
These are our lives.
Everything collapses.
What will we do if we are forbidden to fish tomorrow
?
The majority of
fishermen
are in their sixties
,” worries Sabine Durand.
The secretary general of the Approved Association of Professional Freshwater Fishermen of Gironde (AAPPED 33), weary and "
emotionally exhausted
", denounces "
judicial harassment
".
The DMA systematically attacks the prefectural decrees authorizing the activity of the 37 professional fishermen of the rivers of the Gironde.
And this Thursday again, the administrative court of Bordeaux must rule in summary on the suspension or not of the 2023 lamprey fishing season.
"
The biological situation of the lamprey is catastrophic
", justifies to
Figaro
Philippe Garcia.
The president of the DMA, based on the observations of the animal association Migado, estimates "
that its population should disappear in 2026
".
In question ?
“
A collapse in the number of larvae and their sediments
”, specifies the one who judges “
that it is better for a tradition to disappear rather than the end of a species
”.
He denounces the strategies of the public administration to "
let the lamprey fish without contest
".
If he attacked by various legal levers the last three annual decrees authorizing fishing, some of his actions were prescribed by the code of judicial procedure.
“
Scheming
” according to the sexagenarian, deploring “
the mediocrity of the policies
” which give him “
the feeling of being governed by the last of the class
”.
Read also“If the State does not get anything in Brussels, it will explode”: the anger of French fishermen goes up a notch
Blame it on the catfish?
“
We didn't wait for this association to protect migratory fish and implement actions to restock rivers with lampreys
,” retorts Sabine Durand.
The AAPPED 33 does not hide its face on the Gironde biodiversity.
“
There is no official data that proves that there are no more lampreys.
But, the big difficulty is that there is a proliferation of catfish which destroy the spawning grounds
(nests of reproduction, editor’s note)”, explains the one who fishes alongside her husband.
Since 2019, these craftsmen - who still work with "
small boats, nets and traps like in the Middle Ages
" - are subject to translocation obligations.
Objective: to move the lampreys from below the dams, where they lay eggs surrounded by catfish, to neutral places, where their young will have a chance of survival.
A requirement, increased to 10,000 individuals in 2023, which has financial consequences.
While fish sells for 30 to 35 euros per kilo on the stalls, the State compensates the sector up to 25 euros (not by weight but by animal).
All this in a context where fishing conditions have become tougher.
For the season from January to April this year, it is now forbidden to fish on Saturdays and to cast your nets one day a week.
"
All these changes together limit our fishing capacity by 46%
," said the AAPPED 33 spokesperson.
We are squeezed from all sides and we are systematically attacked without questioning the catfish and the dams
”, still regrets Sabine Durand, saying she is forced to consider dismissing one of her employees.
Read alsoHunting in the sights of antispeciesists
During a meeting to present their cause on Tuesday, the AAPED obtained the support of several politicians present, including the deputy Florian Boudié (Renaissance) and the vice-president of the Senate Nathalie Delattre (European Democratic and Social Rally), represented by one of its parliamentary attachés.
Also present, MP Edwige Diaz (RN) denounces, this Wednesday in a press release, “
fishermen
victims of anti-speciesist ideology
” and “
the risk of seeing ancestral know-how disappear definitively without compensation.
“If the administrative court of Bordeaux suspends, this Thursday, fishing “
as a precautionary principle
”, the season which is in full swing and which must stop on April 30, will be over.
And Sabine Durand to conclude:
We are more than in danger and exhausted to pass for the gravediggers of the river
”.
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