The local scallop fishing campaign has just started in Charente-Maritime. By December 28, 44 ships – including 13 from the Pays-de-la-Loire – will have the right to crisscross the Breton and Antioch pertuis in search of the precious mollusk. No quota is imposed on them. But the fishermen will only have a total of “18 trips” to work, most of them being limited to 2 hour slots. After the glass eel (the eel fry, Editor’s note), the scallop has established itself as one of the most monitored and controlled fisheries in France.
The first landings made last Monday at the port of Chef-de-Baie, in La Rochelle, were “disappointing”, say the fishermen. “The first tides are always a gamble. Are we going to hit the bull’s eye? The sea is vast, the shells are moving”, explains Frédéric Sopena, the boss of the “Piranha” who, like his peers, fears a bad season. Penalized last year by too high thresholds of ASP toxins (amnesic shellfish poison, amnesic shellfish poisoning), the fishermen had to stay at the quay for several weeks.
Increase in the price of diesel
The samples taken these days have, this time, confirmed the good health of the local deposits. If the professionals all hope to “save the furniture” by the end of the year, the volumes of Saint-Jacques constitute them, “the great unknown”. “Fishing is not an exact science, the shells sail”, underlines Johnny Wahl, the president of the Regional Committee of maritime fisheries of New-Aquitaine.
To fish for scallops using steel dredges, skippers must pay 120 euros for a license and an additional 1,380 euros to finance the reseeding of the seabed. Scalded – among other things – by the rise in diesel and ASP toxins, eleven ships have thus decided not to re-stack this season. 59 licenses had still been granted in 2019.