La pêche des crevettes au chalut et les problèmes de sélectivité

Coastal shrimp fishing with trawls, especially that of brown shrimp Crangon crangon L., poses, in many European countries, a problem linked with the overexploitation of stocks, as this type of fishing results in the destruction of other fishes who spend part of their immature life in the same biotope as shrimps.In France, where trawl fishing has been forbidden, in theory, in territorial waters for more than a century, fishers can obtain dispensations allowing them to use trawls whose dimensions and mesh are regulated.But this activity, practiced with small units equipped with small engines (40 to 80 hp), could stop if public powers, in the interest of the protection of our biological reserves, gave their full effect back to coastal fishing regulations.To understand this question better, it was necessary to examine the main fishing areas of the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel in order to study the composition of the shrimp stocks and their possible overexploitation, as well as the amount of destroyed fish.