As night fell, a small fishing boat is slicing through the waters of the Loire estuary, moving slightly upstream of the Cordemais power station.
On the Loire, which has a turbid estuary, there’s no need to wait until nightfall to start fishing. The turbidity of the water prevents light, especially on cloudy days, from penetrating the water column. This allows the glass eels to move up close to the surface and be available for the push sieve. This is not always the case in estuaries such as the Adour, where the water can be clear when there is little rainfall. In these cases, glass eels can only be caught at ‘dark night’ when they rise close to the surface, or they have to be sought very close to the bottom upstream of the estuary.
When fishing, the speed of the boat is very low, especially as the vessel is moving against the tidal current which carries the glass eels upstream. The duration of the fishing haul is limited so as not to stress the fish when they are caught.
Once the haul has been completed, the contents of the sieve are poured onto a fine plastic mesh which allows the glass eels to pass through, but retains any large impurities or other unwanted species. Here we can see that catches of other species are negligible or non-existent. The glass eels are particularly large and of very high quality. There are between 1800 and 2000 per kg, which is exceptional. Normally, the number of individuals per kg is between 2,500 and 2,800 glass eels.
Once the fishing is over or the order has been fulfilled, the glass eels are carefully cared for. The glass eels are carefully collected, avoiding the loss of their mucus. They are then weighed on the boat before being unloaded.
The fishing sheet must be completed by the fisherman on board the boat and before any fish is landed.
Important information must be entered. Firstly, it must be stated whether the catch was taken from the consumption quota or the restocking quota. It is clearly stated here that the catch was taken from the restocking quota and cannot therefore be sold for consumption.
The weight is estimated as accurately as possible by the fisherman, with an error of no more than 10%. In this case, the quantity of glass eels is 4.6kg.
The place of landing and the place of storage must be indicated. In this trip, the landing site is the port of Cordemais and the destination and/or storage site is the Le Croisic fish auction. This transport will be carried out by a vehicle whose registration number must be specified along with the name of the vessel and its registration number.
The legality of the act of fishing and the legality of the transport are checked randomly and frequently by the accredited state services: Environmental Police; Customs; Maritime Affairs or National Gendarmerie.
The quality of the glass eels is then checked by the wholesaler, who will be a member of AFPMAR and will be responsible for transporting them to the end user.
Each fisherman who is a member of AFPMAR signs a charter of good practice.