Yield and abundance of the civelle (Anguilla anguilla L.) at the beginning of the nineties

The civelle (Anguilla anguilla) fishery is carried out in the lower sections of the rivers that flow into the Bay of Biscay and the Channel together with a small part of the adjacent coast around the mouth of these rivers. This activity began to develop rapidly at the end of the sixties in connection with the use of push nets and the increase in the Spanish market prices for civelle. The official statistical data on fish catches and fishing effort registered is often unreliable and fragmentary. Consequently, this study has tried to establish the amount of fishing over one recent year (1989) and a diagnosis of the abundance of civelle, using the official data available and the result of the investigations carried out by CEMAGREF and IFREMER. A total of 4360 fishermen made up of 1160 professionals (27 %) and 3200 non-professionals (73 %) landed 520 tons of civelle in 1989 with a turn-over of 200 millions F.F. The proportion produced by the non-professional fishermen amounted 170 tons and 68 millions F.F. (33 %). The analysis of time series of fishing indicators obtained from the river basins of Vilaine, Loire and Gironde, led to the conclusion that the abundance of civelle has fallen dramatically at the beginning of the eighties. There has been no change in the situation since then. The relevance and the accuracy of these results are discussed and some proposals are made concerning the biological resource and the fishing activity.