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Too restrictive for recreational anglers
The government had initially planned to set a ceiling of five mackerel per day and per person for recreational fishing, in order to limit pressure on this species whose population has declined sharply in recent years. Amateur fishermen, particularly active on the Atlantic and Channel coasts, had contested this measure, deeming it too restrictive and unfair compared to professional quotas.
Finally, a decree published on April 1, 2026 (and this is no April fool...) in the Journal Officiel raised the limit to ten mackerel per day and per fisherman in ICES zones 4, 7 and 8, i.e. the Channel, the North Sea and the Atlantic seaboard.
Have the fishermen been heard?
"Having listened carefully to the demands of recreational fishermen, I waited until we had established the European framework that today allows us to increase the quota for professional fishermen, before raising the limit for recreational fishermen. This is what I decided this week", said the Minister to justify this new threshold.
The Minister for the Sea and Fisheries, Catherine Chabaud, explained that this revision was made possible by a European adjustment to professional quotas, and that it was in response to the mobilization of recreational fishermen.
Ecologically speaking, the situation remains worrying: Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) stocks have plummeted, partly due to a northward migration caused by warmer waters and intensive harvesting in Norwegian, Icelandic and British waters. A sensitive issue in fishing negotiations between European countries, to be continued...
