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The Minister for the Sea and Fisheries, Catherine Chabaud this is what we call "solidarity". This term refers to a shared effort in the context of a sharp drop in the professional quota, to 16,000 tonnes in 2025 and 2,400 tonnes in 2026. His message: everyone must contribute to preserving the stock. Yes, but... not everyone has contributed to the extinction of this stock, and certainly not recreational fishing.
Solidarity assumed by the State
In her interview with Ouest-France, Catherine Chabaud clearly lays claim to the measure. "We are going to introduce a quota of 5 mackerel per day per recreational fisherman The context is difficult. France's professional quota will fall to 2,400 tonnes by 2026, following an overall reduction of almost 70%. The Minister also speaks of solidarity between players in the industry. If I were the Minister's advisor, that's a term I'd put on the back burner.
Small-scale professional fishermen are also being punished for a fault for which they are not responsible. These small-scale professional fishermen, heavily dependent on mackerel, will receive 400 tonnes redistributed. In fact, it's almost a provocation for both professional craftsmen and recreational fishermen. What's more, no compensation is planned for either the professionals or for all the jobs generated by recreational fishing.
The question of proportion
In principle, there's nothing illegitimate about including recreational fishing in the overall management of fish stocks. But solidarity presupposes proportionality. Available estimates put the annual recreational catch in the Atlantic at around 100 tonnes.
In relation to the 16,000 tonnes caught by professionals in 2025, this represents approximately 0.65%, as revealed by our dedicated article . Less than 1%! On this scale, recreational fishing does not structure fishing pressure. I'll explain my calculations in the next article in this dossier.
A politically risky symbol
