Ajaccio (AFP)

Off the marine cemetery of Ajaccio, Marien Poggi, 72 years puts on his diving suit. Eyes closed, the oldest Corsican coral is empty, before sliding 60 meters deep to fish the "red gold" of the Mediterranean, his passion for 40 years.

"I started coral in 1979 but since I was 16, I wanted to do it.It is a dream job, coral is a mystery, organic, alive, it removes the bad luck", confided to the AFP the septuagenarian authorized by prefectural decree, like eight confreres, to fish coral in Corsica.

A demanding and highly regulated fishery that is more than 50 meters deep to allow amateur divers to observe this jewel of the seas, marine invertebrate with an external skeleton that lives between 5 and 700 meters depth and grows one centimeter a year.

As every morning from April to December, when the sea allows it, Marien, robust, tanned, bald head, mischievous look and jovial smile, slips into his third layer of neoprene and puts on gloves and slippers. "At 60 meters, the sea is 14 ° C", said this son of military, born in Marseille.

At his side, his sailor, Franck Ibba, former fisherman of 42 years, activates, stressed. "You have to be very focused because there is a real danger, I do not want to lose Marien, it's the anguish of the sailors of coral," says this former boxer, "6th World Mister Universe" in 2017, by running an immutable checklist.

Marien, who spent three years at the "paras" before being a professional diver at Comex, a company specializing in work in underwater environments, and oil platforms, moved to the back of the boat and " makes a break. "

"It's the silence before Mass," says Franck. Equipped with 90 kg of equipment, flashlight attached to the arm and marteline in hand, Marien drops into the water. "We take the sea every day but the sea only takes you once," said Franck nervously watching the bubbles of his diver.

- 'My mother and god' -

Today, the dive will last approximately 1h30 with 20-25 minutes to 60 meters and one hour of decompression stops. "It's a mental education, you get used to waiting calmly," says the diver.

After 25 minutes, Marien makes up with a parachute his basket with 800 grams of "beautiful coral" which will sell between 900 and 2,000 euros per kilo to the Italians of Torre del Greco, south of Naples, "the experts of the size "to make jewelry very popular.

Then starts the decompression time. Bearings every 3 meters, pure oxygen to reduce waiting, and a slow rise.

In 1983, it's the accident. dementia to the spinal cord. Six months of paralysis of the legs. "I had partying until 3 am," says Marien. "I was very scared, at 6 meters, my lungs were curled up, I could not breathe, I had the reflex to go down to 15 meters, it saved me, I looked at the surface and I called my mother and god, "recalls this" non-practicing believer ".

Since, "I do not drink, I do not smoke, I eat little meat, I sleep at least six hours per night", states the veteran who limits his descents to 60 meters since 2010, against 100-120 meters before with a gaseous mixture called trimix.

This passionate grandfather of travel during the 3-4 months he does not dive affirms it is his last year! Afterwards, he will take tourists on a sea trip. Franck has heard that before.

"It's been at least five years since he explained to me that this is his last year", confirms AFP Bruno Grandjean, head of the department of hyperbaric medicine at the hospital of Ajaccio, which issues him every year the precious empowerment medical.

For him, the corallors are "addict" to this sometimes fatal activity that won four a summer in the 80s. Today, the profession seems "suspended because the resource is dwindling". Marien is going back tomorrow.

© 2019 AFP