Incidence de la pêche sur la biodiversité ichtyologique marine : le bassin d'Arcachon et le plateau continental sud Gascogne

Estimation of changes in the relative abundance of fish species in catches off Arcachon, on the shelf and in the Bassin d'Arcachon, from 1727 to the present day, shows that some previously dominant species are becoming scarce. Some are actually not caught now in the south of the Bay of Biscay. Among these are the large bottom-living elasmobranchs with low reproduction rates, such as Echinorhinus brucus, Squatina squatina, Raja batis, Raja brachyura, Dasyatis pastinaca, Myliobatis aquila, Galeorhinus galeus, Mustelus asterias, Raja clavata, ,.. and some actinopterygians, such as Trigla lyra, while catches of Eutrigla gurnardus are much reduced. Bottom trawling is principally responsible for these reductions but all fishing methods used there have contributed, even to the loss of the large species. The only way to counteract this trend should be to introduce reserves where fishing is banned. NOT CONTROLLED OCR