Fishing conference in Nice: “We must defend our profession with vigor”, believes the president of the Var departmental fisheries committee

2023-09-21 06:00:00

A Saint Peter tattooed on the left hand. Even among fans of the “old school”, the motif is really not common. “It is the symbol of the prud’homie of Saint-Raphaël”, explains Geoffrey Ménard with an almost childish smile. The young man, a professional fisherman for ten years, but who has been sailing since he was 14, displays the color: “I live for fishing. I have this profession in my heart, in my guts! The worst thing that could happen to me would be to be deprived of doing it”.

At barely 28 years old, Varois Geoffrey is rather unusual. When many of his peers in Generation Z have made work-life balance a priority, he says without qualms: “In fishing, there is no work code. There is only work”. And to add soberly: “When you are a fisherman, you have to prepare yourself not to have a lasting love life”.

A fan of sustainable fishing

“The only wheel of fortune that turns every day is the one at the front of the boat and thanks to which I haul in my nets,” slips Geoffrey Ménard, mischievously. Photo Philippe Arnassan.

We guessed it: Geoffrey doesn’t count his hours. If the weather is favorable, he goes out to sea six days a week and, depending on the season, between 10 and 20 hours a day! “Depending on what we catch – soup, sea bream, bouillabaisse, etc. – we set and haul the nets up to twice a day”.

On this September morning, with a north wind expected to turn to the east, Geoffrey has few illusions. “I set up a mesh net last night at 3 a.m. to try to catch some red mullet. We’ll see”, he confides. After a few meters of nets being raised, his intuition is confirmed: “It’s not today that we will buy the Porsche”. Whatever. The young man is not one of those to measure his success by external signs of wealth. “Given the hours spent at sea, we are paid less than the hourly minimum wage. But we are enriched by the sunrises and sunsets. And then we are lucky enough to be able to eat great fish every day. What more could you ask for ?”

Would Geoffrey be a poet? Without a doubt. But not only. Elected for five years at the head of the Departmental Committee for Maritime Fisheries and Marine Farming of Var, Geoffrey Ménard defends “sustainable fishing where fishermen, organized in industrial tribunals, only take what they need. Without endangering the resource”. Raising his net set in thirty meters of water a short distance from Ferréol port in Issambres, Geoffrey does not hesitate to throw the little capons back into the water. “We practice selective fishing. The fish is not damaged. If it is too small, it returns to grow in the sea”.

The pressure of pleasure

Sars, capons, bécunes, rare red mullets… Part of the “soup” caught on this Wednesday in mid-September by Geoffrey Ménard. **Photo Philippe Arnassan.**

Despite efforts, the temporary suspension of certain fisheries if a particular species becomes rarer, or the increase in the mesh size of the nets, is not enough. “There are fewer and fewer fishermen. Their number has halved at the Saint-Raphaël industrial tribunal. From 25 to 30% at the regional level. At the same time, we see that fish are becoming rarer “.

To explain this situation, Geoffrey Ménard points out “unfair competition” of some amateur fishermen. And even goes so far as to talk about “poaching”. The fisherman boss is not fooled: “When we see the same pleasure boats going out every day and bringing back 20kg of fish… Unless you have sea lions at home, the fish is sold.”

The other problem, always linked to pleasure boating, is the destruction of posidonia, the natural habitat of fish, by the multiplication of anchorages. “I have nothing against pleasure boating, but posidonia has been a protected species since 1988. It should be further protected by developing ecological anchors”. So many points that Geoffrey Ménard will defend Thursday and Friday in Nice, during the Fisheries and Seafood Conference, organized by West France and the Marinin partnership with Nice morning. An event he must be present at, even if it means losing two days of fishing. “We cannot complain every day on the quays and do nothing. It is important that we, professional fishermen, are present at this type of event to defend our profession vigorously”.

And if Hervé Berville, the Secretary of State for the Sea, announced in Nice, wants to go to sea, “I’m waiting for him”, says Geoffrey. The invitation is extended.