The situation has been the same on the entire coast since this spring, and numerous populations of voracious creatures could have an impact on other marine animals such as oysters or crabs, which are their food, writes AFP.
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“Last year we brought three or four octopuses during the whole fishing season, sometimes we saw some pass by. But it has been a complete explosion since spring. Depending on how many boats they bring ashore, the bottom of the sea must be really dense, ”said Philippe Micheau, chairman of the Charente-Maritime Committee on Fisheries. “I have never seen anything like it in more than 30 years of fishing,” he added.
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Formerly a pound, now a ton
Last year, from the beginning of January to the middle of October, fishermen caught 375 kilograms of squid, a year earlier for the same period it was 1051 kilograms. This year, fishermen have already brought 27.3 tonnes of these cephalopods, calculates Pascal Bouillaud, director of the port of La Rochelle.
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In the past, octopuses were only on the high seas, but recently there are more and more of them in shallow waters between nearby islands and the coast. Their presence in these parts is all the more dangerous because the shallow warm waters act as a hatchery for many species of marine fauna and voracious squid weed the young population, explains Paco Bustamante, a researcher from La Rochelle. The most endangered are molluscs such as mussels, venus and oysters or crabs.
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The financial impact of overpopulated squid on fishermen varies. While those who fish in baskets will lose their catches, fishermen with nets have them full, not just fish, but squid. However, they can sell just as well, because there is a demand for them in gastronomy, they are sold for six to eight euros (approximately 150 to 200 crowns) per kilogram. They are not so popular in France, but the demand for them is even greater in Spain, Portugal and Italy.
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Octopuses live relatively short, about two years, and develop very quickly. When it’s a cold year, there are fewer. After a warm year like this year, many more will survive, ”explains Bustamante, relativizing this year’s phenomenon. According to him, the current flood of octopuses cannot be compared to grasshopper invasions. Octopuses were very abundant in Atlantic waters throughout the first half of the 20th century, but then their numbers declined. Now the size of the population is changing in the opposite direction.
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