Analyse des structures de la peche dans les ports de la cote atlantique francaise de 1961 a 1975 et des incidences du chalutage sur les stocks des principales especes concornees par cette activite dans les mers adjacentes.

The authors have studied the structure of the fishing fleet for artisanal and industrial fisheries and its activities in the harbours of the Atlantic coast: Douarnenez, Concarneau, Lorient, Saint-Nazaire, Nantes, La Rochelle, Bayonne etc. It appears that the decline of the traditional fishery corresponds to the degradation of the stocks, especially the hake and megrim stocks. The industrial fishery supports the consequences of this overfishing while the artisanal trawling fishery showed in 1975 a relative prosperity. In conclusion, it is evident that stock degradation is chiefly caused by fisheries utilizing too narrow meshes. This is not irreversible and it is probable that a sensible widening of the meshes would permit better management of the potential resources of the Bay of Biscay.