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An investment
It may seem like a drop in the ocean: releasing a few pikes into a Seine that is almost 800 km long... What are the chances of a pike or one of its offspring coming back? The operation aroused our curiosity, and on Tuesday February 17, we were on the water's edge with the volunteers to find out more.
The AAPPMA des Hauts-de-Seine et de l'Ouest Parisien was responsible for the fish stocking. In fact, around sixty 55-60 cm pike were released on the Seine. The bulk of the stocking was done on a dozen lakes managed by the association: pike, black-bass, tench, roach, perch... A total of 1.4 tons of fish were involved. The operation cost around 10,000 euros, financed by the sale of fishing cards and a grant from the interdepartmental federation. A fine investment!
Strategy
At the helm: José Matias, accompanied by a dozen volunteers. Most of them young people. Everything was prepared in advance. before, we used to get together on a Saturday in November, and it was announced in advance," explains José, notebook in hand to record and check each quantity dumped. We ended up with curious onlookers, banks less accessible to trucks, fishermen and poachers... So we opted for February, when it's quieter during the week. And then there's the problem of cormorants... In November, they used to gather around the fish releases. They'd eat in front of us! But now, at this time of year, there are fewer of them".
This time lag also poses a problem on a wider scale: French fish farms see their orders gathered over February-March, and it's a bottleneck during the closure. The AAPPMA works with the Laval fish farm in Isère: "It's a long way away, but the fish are top quality, and there's virtually no mortality. There are establishments further away and cheaper, but with fish that actually come from Eastern European countries".
En Seine
Three teams are formed: one on the Seine, one for the ponds of the Bois de Boulogne, and one for the more remote bodies of water. At 8:30 a.m., I board a training boat opposite the Maison de la Pêche et de la Nature, the association's headquarters in Levallois. The Seine is in flood, 1000 m3/s and the banks under brown water. The pikes are in three large garbage cans, a little agitated. The boat stops over in several areas and each time, a dozen or so fish return to the river. The upstream baited areas are the best: that's where the white fish are concentrated and the pike will be able to position themselves better.
The fish haven't been marked, but they should be moving anyway. we've been tagging for three years, but we've only had two pike returns," says Damien Bouchon, technical manager at the Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne fishing federations. For example, we had a carp return that travelled almost 30 km between Levallois and Rueil-Malmaison. Another was released on the Marne at Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, passed two dams and was recaptured a year and a half after being tagged in Paris, at the Pont d'Austerlitz. In large environments, the released fish seem to swim downstream".
Density
It's hard to say whether one of these sixty pikes will ever find its way into a fisherman's landing net. But the signal sent out is strong and hope is reborn. At least, that's what Damien says: "In the 80s and 90s, there were a few catches of big pike, but they were very sporadic and there was no sign of reproduction. In the last ten years or so, when we've been doing inventory fishing and monitoring fish stocks, we've seen a marked improvement in our catch returns. We're seeing breeding fish, even if it's still not enough to meet our pike density targets. On the reaches in the 92, 93 and 78 regions, some big ones have been falling over the last three or four years.
In 2025, a 117 cm pike was caught in Asnières, from the shore. As for me, last October I caught a 55 cm pike in Paris, without looking for it, and I came across big bait anglers who were very confident in their approach.
Back to the ponds
The Seine having welcomed its new inhabitants, I return to the ponds and get on the bandwagon. The tour continues, and huge black bass and big perch make their way to a pond in western Paris. It's a stone's throw from where I live, and I had no idea there was such a population! "We stock the most accessible and therefore most popular ponds," says José. Some sites are more black-bass or white-oriented.
I let the volunteers off to share a hot meal before continuing with the spills. A few passers-by will have stopped to ask a few kind questions and congratulate the AAPPMA on its work. No anti-speciesists, no cormorants: a perfect day!
