Le Figaro Bordeaux
The prefect of Gironde, Étienne Guyot, had in vain returned the gracious request of the association for the Defense of aquatic environments (DMA) on April 12, this Monday, the precautionary principle prevailed.
The administrative court, seized in summary proceedings, suspended the decree authorizing the fishing of lamprey until the case is judged on the merits.
A decision that sounds the death knell for the season which was to end on April 30.
But for Philippe Garcia, the president of DMA, it is only a battle, and certainly not the war, that has been won.
“
Our goal is not to win in court.
It's that things change underwater: stopping fishing is a necessary condition, but not necessarily sufficient for the survival of the lamprey population
”.
For the former ophthalmologist and amateur fisherman converted to fish protection, “
fishing policies are presbyopic and toxic
”.
By defending himself from being “
animalist
”, he advocates “
fishing which lets nature grow, which respects it and which only takes what it can give
”.
Criteria, which according to him no longer meet the 37 professionals who draw from the rivers of the Gironde.
And for good reason: according to the monitoring of the species by the MIGADO association, included in the reasoning of the court, the data "
converge to describe a catastrophic situation in the basin with a declining spawning stock in the basins of the Garonne and of the Dordogne
".
Doubled by a serious doubt on the basis of article 5 of the Charter of the environment making it possible to conclude with "
a risk of serious and irreversible damage
", the traditional fishermen of the Gironde could not fight.
To their greatest despair.
Restaurant owners mustn't make me cry.
They only have to call the Americans where the lampreys are so numerous that they are harmful
Philippe Garcia, President of the DMA
The powerlessness of fishermen
“
We are in shock and we feel helpless.
We have our jars, our leeks, our customers and our investments on our hands
, ”despairs Sabine Durand.
The secretary general of the Approved Association of Professional Freshwater Fishermen of Gironde (AAPPED 33) "
does not understand
" this administrative decision, which condemns them to lose 15 days of a resource which sells for between 30 and 35 euros per kilo .
“
We fish with small boats, not big trawlers
”, she insists, convinced that it is the catfish that are harming the reproduction of the lamprey and not its activity.
An argument that was not enough to convince the judge considering “
determining
” the impact of his samples on the survival of the species.
“
Finding another culprit is recurrent among fishermen.
But when we take 77,000 lampreys from the water
(i.e. the minimum estimate retained by the judge, editor's note)
... We cannot say that we have no impact
, ”retorts Philippe Garcia.
For the activist, the question is no longer there because after having preserved nature, it is, according to him, up to the State to assume the consequences.
“The fishermen must hurry to convince the administration to compensate them.
It is perfectly possible, normal and legitimate.
Protecting an endangered species is a social issue and we must be able to pay for the application of the law, which involves compensating these people
,” argues the sixty-year-old.
As for restaurateurs who are worried about no longer being supplied to cook lamprey à la bordelaise, the president of the DMA has for them “
a simple solution
”.
“
They mustn't make me cry
,” he says, “
they just have to call the Americans where there are so many lampreys that they are harmful
”.
To date, the Gironde prefecture has not yet decided whether or not it will use its right to appeal in cassation to challenge the suspension of this suspensive summary.