The peach was slowed down for several weeks by the coronavirus and containment. Didier Gascuel, director of the fisheries, sea and coastline pole at Agrocampus Ouest, talks about the effects of this break on fish and talks about the end of the crisis for the fishing industry.
Since March 17, the volumes of landings in French auctions have dropped. Will fish benefit from a Covid-19 effect?
We had an involuntary experience with nature and resources. I remain cautious as we have no data or observations but there are likely to be short term effects on fish behavior and redistribution.
And in the longer term?
The impacts will be relatively low since the catch of most of the large European stocks is limited by quotas. Fishermen have the capacity to postpone them until the end of the year, or even more because they asked that 25% of these quotas be fished in 2021.
Hasn’t the confinement of boats been a breath for the fish?
During the First World War, the fish community increased threefold in the North Sea. But it was four years of total fishing halt. For an effect like this to translate into a rebound for the resource, it would have to last more than a year, which is not at all desirable.
Now that the recovery is in sight, how do you think the rebound will unfold?
There is a real danger that economic difficulties will lead to postponing good management measures or developments favorable to sustainable fishing. We are already seeing a number of European countries claiming to be lifted from social fisheries measures or management plans. The battle is underway between the short-term economic urgency and the necessary transformation of society.
The advantage is that the fishing sector is doing quite well economically: many companies have room for maneuver and it is time for them to evolve.
Do you fear going back?
We are in a period where cumulative Brexit, climate change and health crisis. In the Brexit negotiations, the British are calling for a redefinition of the quota allocation keys to which the French are fiercely opposed.
The risk for the fish is that, next year, when the scientists will set a quota at 100, the Europeans will claim 80, the English too and we will fish 160. The current health crisis, and the will for everyone to solving the problems of its fishermen will not help negotiation.
Isn’t this a good time to rethink greener fishing?
We all would like the next world to be better. It is not yet clear who the winners will be, coastal fishing or industrial shipping. There will be a bit of a wild economic regulation and there is no guarantee that it will go in the direction of sustainable fishing.
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