- Fabien Gardon, 33, has been living as a fisherman boss for two years in Marseille.
- He decided to fish with longlines, a technique respectful of marine habitats, rather than with nets to preserve the resources of the sea "and be able to fish all [his] life".
- But the bad days of fishing do not allow him to recoup his costs, so he is obliged to have, from time to time, use nets to preserve his activity.
Add seafood to the plate. Fabien Gardon, it can't be invented, is a young 33-year-old fishing boss who has been living in Marseille for two years. Like his colleagues, he embarked on his boat and left off Marseille and Cassis for a night of fishing. But unlike most fishermen in the area, he abandoned the nets to fish with longlines: a mother line on which several hooks are fixed thanks to branchlines.
“I opted for this fishing mode because I am passionate and I hope to live fishing my whole life. If resources are exploded, it may not be possible. Unfortunately there are still too many people who want to binge and who do not respect the regulations. Some want to play the game, but there is the older generation which seeks the same profitability as before ”, notes the one who had initially oriented towards accounting. "But I had nightmares, I hung myself over my accounting office", laughs today Fabien.
"No negative effect on marine habitats"
A reasoned fishery, Ifremer also lists the advantage of longline fishing of not having a “negative effect on marine habitats”, which Fabien values thanks to another technique. "I take the live fish on board and then kill it while putting a cable in the spinal canal. The brain does not send brain death information to the limbs, and the flesh is better. I also empty the fish directly on site, since there is no more blood, we avoid toxins and this allows the flesh to mature ”, Fabien list who borrowed this technique from a Breton fisherman and a Corsican fisherman.
More reasoned fishing, and better quality fish that must be valued. “I mainly target rather gourmet restaurants because only they can play the game and pay the price corresponding to the quality. I sell around 30 euros per kilo, some say that it is expensive for direct sale, but it is less than in fishmongers, ”explains Fabien.
A fragile economic model
Successfully developing your fish is essential for your economic model. “Some fishermen have contracted large loans and they are caught in this process of quantity rather than quality. They do not sell their fish well. This is why I made the choice to buy a small boat and not to follow this logic, ”he says.
But Fabien nevertheless comes up against the difficulty of certain realities. “Some days are difficult. You can't fish much and I can lose up to 200 hooks. There is the price of fuel, the price of hooks and fishing like this does not cover the cost. So I am obliged from time to time to fish for soils or turbos with the net. Some fishermen with a lot of experience manage to fish all year longline, but unfortunately this is not yet my case ”. From his two years of experience, Fabien Gardon is proud of his career and he should soon join his illustrious elders and fish with longlines all year round.
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