Pêche de la langouste rouge Palinurus elephas en france. Eléments pour fixer une taille marchande

From the end of XIX century to the 1950', spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas) fishing has been an important economical activity for potters of Brittany and led to landings over two thousands tons. Later, impoverishment of traditional fishing grounds and closure, to French fleet, of foreign fishing area obliged a reconversion of potters toward crabs (edible crab and spider crab). Recently in the 80', development of a netting activity has restarted catches of spiny lobster (at a modest scale). Presently, the only reglementary measure concerning this species/metier is a national minimum legal size (total length) but European Commission has wished that a European MLS would be established. In that aim, this paper presents the main features of spiny lobster fishing in France, it brings data on reproduction and mean female size at first reproduction and it reviews various biometrical relationship published by European authors. A proposition is made for MLS (carapace length).