04 April 2008
From March next year, net fishing for lobsters will be forbidden in the Balagne area in northern Corsica, so as to preserve the species and ensure a sustainable development.
Fishermen will have to resort to the ancestral method of fishing called creel fishing, which was abandoned around the seventies, Corse Matin reports.
Although the ban, which was issued by the Balagne industrial tribunal, only applies to the month of March for the next five years, fishermen are welcome to use the technique throughout the fishing season which starts on March 1st and finishes on October 1st.
To support the project, the Corsican Environmental Office is to provide additional financial help to all fishermen to purchase creels and long-lines.
Fish trap or creel fishing will enable fishermen to chose their catch and throw back into the water the young lobsters, thus preserving the species.
Eric Villain, member of the industrial tribunal told Corse Matin: "We are hoping to reduce over-fishing and to put an end to damage which is being caused by the nets".
M. Villain added: "In 1975, I used to catch ten kilos of lobsters compared to two today."
