| Fishing crayfish on the gulf's mudflats is a traditional business practised by 450 boats of 12 to 18 metres in length and employs 2,500 sailors. In the north of the gulf, this activity is exclusive, in the south, immature hake are also caught, because the crayfish areas coincide, in part, with the nurseries of the northern stock of this species. Management of these fisheries, called mixed, of crayfish and hake is one of the greatest problems of the Gulf of Gascony. All assessments tend to show the responsibility of the crayfish boats in the future of the hake stock. The solution is likely to pass through a generalised increase of the 80 mm meshing that would lead, eventually, the hake stock yield to its maximum, but would eliminate a great many trades... |
