Faced with a risk of disappearance of sea urchins in the French Mediterranean, the authorities have decided to halve fishing in the south of France, both in terms of period and volumes.
In its decree dated September 29, the Interregional Directorate of the Mediterranean Sea recalls the “significant depletion of sea urchin resources across all coastal departments” in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region for three years.
“A risk of disappearance of the edible sea urchin”
It has therefore decided to limit the opening of fishing over the next three seasons to a period going from mid-December to the end of February in Bouches-du-Rhône and Var and until April 15 in the Alpes-Maritimes. Until now it was open from November 1st to April 15th. For amateur fishermen, they will be able to collect only two dozen sea urchins per fisherman, compared to four until now.
The French authorities base themselves on the numerous scientific studies which warn of “a risk of disappearance of the edible sea urchin”, and in particular those of the Côte Bleue marine park, the Port-Cros national park or on the action plan sea urchin from the Medfish project.
Poaching and overfishing
This decline in the resource has been observed throughout the French Mediterranean since 2017: towards Marseille for example, “densities have fallen to 1.5 sea urchins per m2 compared to 2 to 2.5/m2 previously”, underlined Marie Bravo-Monin , director of the Côte Bleue marine park in an interview with AFP in March.
These measures were demanded by professional fishermen themselves. The decline in the resource is multifactorial, due to overfishing with poaching in particular, the increase in water temperature or the modification of plankton, which impacts sea urchin larvae, according to scientists.
Soon Corsica
In Corsica, “we should normally take the same direction” as in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Riyad Djaffar, director of the Corsican sea and coast (DLMC), told AFP. “The fishermen (…) asked for a reduction in fishing periods. There is a scientific study coming and behind it we will launch the process of modifying the regulations, which should take place before the end of the year, the opening of sea urchin fishing in Corsica having taken place in recent years on the 15th. December, he added.
It remains to be seen whether these measures will bear fruit, knowing that many options were on the table: moratorium of several years, quotas, shortening the timetable or setting aside specific areas.