It was not the crowd of the great days but about fifty onlookers, smartphones in hand, had made the trip near the Chantemerle canal bridge to attend the electric fishing organized by the Syndicat du canal de Berry and the Fishing Federation of the Allier this Tuesday. A large-scale operation which precedes the drying up of part of the canal near the Roussets lock.
The day before, Monday, January 23, we lowered the water level to allow the fish to be recovered and once the fishing has been carried out, we will dry this portion of the canal in an attempt to limit the spread of waterweed.
jocelyne popoff (berry channel union)
Originally from North America, this invasive plant inhabits the waters of the canal. “There are really a lot. It’s impressive,” laments the vice-president of the Berry canal.
A fishing that arouses interest
The drying out should last three months but the plant has taken its ease so much that it may be necessary to play extra time. “Why not until September”, asks Jocelyne Popoff who came to watch the miraculous catch.
In the early hours of the day, employees of the Allier Fishing Federation and volunteers from local fishing associations rolled up their sleeves to extract the fish. Carp, zander, pike, catfish and roach. Here, the aquatic fauna is rich.
The task fishermen
“Before intervening, we do not know how much fish we will harvest, but on this part of the 1,400 meter long canal, we can easily recover a ton,” says Mickael Lelièvre, director at the Allier Fishing Federation. .
A titanic job that requires a particular technique, as Vincent Guillaumin, head of the Fishing Police and Aquatic Environments Surveillance Unit at the Allier Federation tells us: “Thanks to a generator, we create an electric field in the water which allows us to attract the fish. Once stunned, we collect it in a landing net before transferring it to a tank”.
This carp will soon be released
And may animal welfare advocates be reassured. Everything is under control: “Studies have shown that there is no danger to the health of the fish and only approved people have the right to use this type of equipment”.
Once the aquatic fauna has been recovered, it is sorted.
The catfish are directly put back in the Cher because they have nothing to do in a very small environment like that of the reach. The others are released upstream and downstream of the Berry Canal.
Mickael Lelievre (allier fishing federation)
Feet in the mud, Vincent Guillaumin redoubles his efforts to save the fish population: “Between the mud and the waterweed from Canada which hinder our movements, it is not easy. It cuts our legs a little”.
Feet in the mud
However, the game is worth the candle. Under the amazed eyes of onlookers, large catfish are extracted from the channel (see video). Her little dog on a leash, an old lady interrupts her walk to immortalize the moment, the time for a photo.
A few meters away, Steve Leroy, president of the Association approved for fishing and the protection of the aquatic environment of Montluçon, prefers to focus on the next deadlines: “In view of the extent of the damage caused by the elodea of Canada, we will have to renew this kind of operation because fishing on this portion is becoming more and more complicated. Next year, we will empty another part of the canal and so on until Vallon-en-Sully”. A large-scale project that has only just begun.
Text and video: Martial Delecluse
Photos : Florian Salesse
