Trois Bassins (France) (AFP)
On her long pink board, her radiant face, Alice Lemoigne surfs the waves of her island, Reunion.
Ten years after the start of the shark crisis, the longboard champion can once again train at home.
Alice Lemoigne is a fan of longboarding, the original version of surfing, more practiced by purists.
More fluid than the very popular shortboard, it allows the surfer to walk in balance on his board to deliver a real ballet on the water.
At this game, she excels.
Three-time world champion and six-time European champion, the 24-year-old scours the oceans all year round in search of sensations.
But the Covid-19 pandemic forced it to land, for lack of competitions.
Usually, she divides her life between her adored island and her city of heart, Biarritz, but chose to live this disturbed period near the waves of her childhood, put at risk since 2011 by the "shark crisis".
According to the French Surfing Federation, Reunion has recorded, over the past ten years, 25 attacks by bulldog and tiger sharks, eleven of which were fatal;
eight of these deaths were surfers.
Since July 26, 2013, a prefectural decree has banned all water sports and swimming outside the lagoon in Reunion Island.
- Vigie and 'Sharkshield' -
"It's been ten years that in Reunion we have a decree which tells us: + no you cannot go to the water. + It is nevertheless the only island where we see that, it is unacceptable!"
protests against AFP the surfer, who has never seen a shark in her life.
For the past six years, a Shark Watch protocol has been in place in certain areas: people underwater, with a camera, monitor, alert and evacuate.
And especially for over a year, she has been using the 'Sharkshield', a device installed on the board that diffuses a powerful electromagnetic field to which sharks are particularly sensitive because of their sensory receptors (Lorenzini bulbs).
It is this personal protective equipment (PPE) that allowed her to return to the waves, with another surfer from Réunion on the pro shortboard circuit, Johanne Defay.
"We both resumed with this anti-shark system that sends waves to the sharks. We receive a little electricity on the board but nothing serious and it protects ten meters around us," he explains. she.
Now she surfs every day.
With a few exceptions on weekends, there are so many people on the water!
- 150 in the water -
"We are 150 in the water now, it's huge, amazing. People have resumed surfing in Reunion, especially early in the morning in fairly favorable conditions with the sun and clear water. It feels good to Seeing our car parks so full that you can't find a place, it's been a long time since I last experienced this ", testifies the surfer.
The last attack in Reunion was on May 9, 2019, according to the Requin Security Center.
A surfer was killed by a bulldog shark, on the spot of La Gauche Saint Leu (central west).
"I want to say that the shark crisis is behind us, we have made good progress with these anti shark devices. We surf all the time, we train all the time but we know that the risk is always there" , warns Lemoigne, very affected by this crisis.
"I lost friends, we were also deprived of our island not to surf. I have often heard that it was our fault, us surfers, if we were eaten by sharks. Knowing that t 'lost friends, you see friends of yours coming with no legs, no arms, you can't hear that kind of thing, so it was hard, ”she says.
The champion is preparing for her first competition of the year, the European Championships, which she hopes will be held in August in Newquay (England).
In the meantime, she takes care of her island, by leading missions to raise awareness of sustainable development.
© 2021 AFP