THEME 4: MARINE BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES - FISHING AND FISH FARMING

Around sixty boats in Brittany equipped with automated harvesters operate in the area of the Abers and the Molène archipelago gathering seaweed for processing in the factories of Lannilis and Landerneau. This activity employs 350 workers directly and 200 indirectly in Brittany. Over the last eight years, however, the volume of Laminaria digitata harvested in the Channel has fluctuated, dropping from around 65 000 to under 50 000 tons, whilst competing species have grown in its place. The main aim of the ECOKELP project is to establish whether this decline is the result of harvesting or climate change.

The Laminaria forests are one of the jewels in Brittany’s marine nature reserve crown. Preserving the natural environment is at stake as is the sustainable development of a human activity. Scientists and professionals therefore share a common interest and have already been working together in this field for several years. Any gaps in knowledge and understanding could have serious implications not only for the future of the seaweed industry but also for the biodiversity relating to the seaweed fields and to the plant organisms and marine species reliant on the seaweed for food or shelter and on which certain fisheries and tourist activities, such as sea angling and diving, depend.

With the support of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (French National Research Agency), Ecokelp will help build up an understanding of seaweed and the associated ecosystem. The project will gather information in situ using, for example, acoustic technology and will undertake lab-based work using the latest genotyping methods. The theoretical model devised during research will constitute a future decision-making tool for exploitation of Laminaria forests. It will take account of the constraints imposed by the environment and by man, will offer sustainable methods of exploitation and will make it possible to formulate proposals for managing other species of potential interest to the seaweed-harvesting industry.

ECOKELP PROJECT PARTNERS

Research centres 

• Station biologique de Roscoff (Roscoff Biological Research Station), project director, CNRS lab – “Genetic Evolution of Populations”, UMR “Adaptation and Diversity in the Marine Environment” in association with two other research teams (Benthic Ecology and Protection of Algae).
• IUEM/CEDEM, Centre de droit et d’économie de la mer (Centre for Maritime Law and Economy) of the Institut universitaire européen de la mer (European University Maritime Institute) in Brest,
• IFREMER Brest, “Management of Living Resources and Fish Stocks”.

Professional organisations 

• Comité local des pêches maritimes, Brest (Brest Local Maritime Fisheries Committee)
• Chambre syndicale nationale des algues marines, Brest (Brest Chamber of Marine Algae Industries)
• Environmental protection association – LPO, Ligue de protection des oiseaux (League for the Protection of Birds), Ile Grande (22), body which manages the Sept Iles Nature Reserve.
  International links: Chile – Catholic University of Santiago, and Portugal – Algarve/Faro University

Contacts

Myriam Valero: valero@snb-roscoff.fr