The Atlantic Salmon in FranceOverview

Hôtel le Nouveau Monde St-Malole 3 juin 2014

31st annual meeting of NASCO

Bénédicte Valadou (with contributions from A. Richard, M.-A. Arago, M. Chanseau, V. Vauclin and V. Burgun)

Governance of diadromous species

RHÔNE – MED :No salmon

SEINE - NORMANDIE

LOIRE

Garonne – Dordogne

BRETAGNERHIN

ADOUR

Governance of diadromous species

Management plans of diadromous species : monitoring, fisheries, protection and restauration of fishes habitat, restocking

Prepared by local bodies, includind states representants, local authorities, fishermen, NGO, scientists…

Link with the Water Framework Directive

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overview

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25 salmon rivers :22 with a river bassin < 1000 m²

9500 adults come back per year

3 323 500 m² of productive area (parr habitats).

Brittany

sources : BGM

natural reproduction and stocking success carried out by using electrofishing (2001-2005).

natural reproduction and stocking success carried out by using electrofishing (2006-2011).

AULNE : critical situation

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SELUNE

SEE

PRINCIPALES RIVIERES NORMANDES

ancient basement waterproof

limestone basin

50 kmsalmon rivers

Sea Trout rivers

- small rivers (from 35 to 100 km)-Geological East/West differences : temperature and size of riffles explain this distinction.

(1 - 10% salmons)

Normandie

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YERES

BRESLE

AN

DE

LLE

ARQUES

SC

IESA

AN

E

SEINE

EP

TE

EUR

E

RIS

LE

ITON

HUISNE

AVRE

TO

UQ

UE

S

SARTHE

DIVES

DU

RD

EN

T

VALMONT

ORNE

MAYENNE

SEU

LLES

VA

RE

NN

E

AURE

SELUNE

VIRE

SEE

SIENNE

TAUTE

DOUVE

SAIRE

PRINCIPALES RIVIERES NORMANDESrivers of Mont St Michel Bay form a satisfactory ring (Sienne, Sée) and metapopulation exchange with Sélune closed by two dams.

the Vire population remains low (200 to 450 adults), despite a rostored migratory route.

2 populations relocated from 15 years on the Saire and Orne (restoking in 1995), with a few hundred adults in 2013.

2 limestone rivers, Arques and Bresle remain weak with a few hundred adults

reproduction on Andelle

Cher

Creuse

Vienne

Gartempe

Arroux

Loire

Lignon

1891-1895: ~ 50,000 salmon caught each year (net fishermen)….

Erased 1998

Erased 1998

PoutèsFish-pass 1986

Allier: 588 ± 264 (1997-2013)

Gartempe: 13 ± 16 (2001-2013)

Arroux: 2 ± 3 (2006-2013)

Maisons Rouges

St Etiennedu Vigan

Indre

Allier

Sioule

Dore

Alagnon

Loire

1/5 of France (118,000 km2)

R. Loire: 1012 km long

R. Allier: first spawning grounds 800 km from the sea

Once the longest French rivers with (wild) salmon

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one estuary - one of the biggest in Europe

24 000 km² ; mean flow : 300 m3/s200 ha PS

55 000km² ; mean flow : 600 m3/s200 ha PS

Construction and modifications of dams on the lower

parts beginning 20th salmon disappearance

Habitat : potential run of ~ 5 000 fish

~ 160 dams/weirs (50 hydroelectric powerplants) and

42 fish pass built.

3 first dams on Dordogne : 50% fish upstream / Loss ~

60% on the middle part of Garonne

Population increase from 1993 to 2002 (more than

1500 fish in 2000 - 2002)

decrease since 2003 (1 SW).

20 to 40% from natural reproduction on Dordogne ;

very few on Garonne (genetic assignment)

Garonne-Dordogne

980 km² ; mean flow : 31 m3/s 2 500 km² ;

mean flow : 102 m3/s

2 710 km² ; mean flow : 82 m3/s

disappearance during first part of XXth century (dams) fish pass construction and stocking since the 80’s

90 ha PA

no disappearance. Management plan in the 80’s : eggs deposition target – more than 11 M (1998) ; fish pass ; stocking ; fishing regulations…

265 ha PA

4000 adults come back per year

~ 200 dams/weirs (86

hydroelectric) and

100 fish pass

65% of habitats used (G.

Pau : 1/3 fish reach good

habitats)

Adour

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Rhine river bassin : 9 country from Alpes to the North sea

•before 1920 : 250 000 salmons caught per year.

•after 1930 : Big dicrease

•from 1958 : totally dissapeear.

•2020 : salmons will come back in the rhine river

Rhine

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Fisheries

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Fishing is forbidden for a lot of rivers

Garonne and Dordogne (because of re-introduction projet)

Loire-Allier (since 1994, for risk of extinction)

Rhine (because of re-introduction project)

fishing is closed but some accidental catches (drift nets) and by-catches occur (nets, rod and line…) because fishing for other species is ongoing and gears are not selective

poaching on Mont Saint Michel Bay

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A single professional estuarine fishery

Adour 25 – 30 fishermen (~ 50 ten years ago) Captures last years : 1000 to 1200 mature salmons exploitation rate estimate : ~ 35 – 40% - more for MSW

Fishing allowed from March to July No fishing during 25% of time per week

Current discussions to reduce fishing effort

Management Rod Fishing (TAC)

TAC MSW TAC 1SW

Bretagne 25 Rivers 484 4357

Normandie 8 Rivers 150 675

5 Rivers 15

Sée and Sélune 105 476

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Management Rod Fishing Adour

Rods : ~ 1 000 anglers

Captures last years : 200 to 300 fish – 90% of MSW

Fishing allowed from March to July (and 2 weeks in september) -

Max. 4 fish / person / year

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Habitats restoration

Accessibility and potential habitat in Brittany

- Kernansquillec dam removal on le Léguer (1996)

- 51 dams have been removed or restored (made passable) since 2007

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Accessibility and potential habitat in Normandie

Sélune restorationCouesnon

Sée

SELUNE

baie du Mont Saint

Michel

barrage de la Roche-qui-Boit

barrage de Vezins

2 hydroelectric dam 51 m high cumulative, which obstructed the river 8 km from the dynamic tide will be removed to the end of 2018 in order to :-restore the movement of migratory fish and - enable the sustainable management of Sélune

Restoration of natural flows

On migratory rivers of Normandy, the target is to reduce the staggering rate to a maximum of 30%.

Restoration of migratory continuityFor 30 years, the linear colonized by salmon increased in Normandy more than 500 km. On the Seine, salmon reached Paris.

River Length (km) N° of Obstacles N° of Obstacles: - difficult to pass - causing delays

Remarks

R. Gartempe 240 km 119 45 Hence the small N° of adults

R. Loire

(< confl. with Allier) 600 km 0 0 But lack of [O2] in the estuary

possible some years

R. Allier 420 km 20 5 + 10 Poutès the only big dam (H = 17 m).Will be modified in 2017 (H = 4 m)

R. Sioule

95 km 35 6 + 7 Serious troubles in the lower

section

R. Alagnon 85 km 28 8 + 10 Serious troubles in the lower section. 5 weirs very hard to pass

Accessibility and potential habitat in Loire-Allier

Allier (+ Sioule, Alagnon, Dore): a remnant population…

Ecolobiologically and genetically unique: 800 km in-river migration before the first spawning grounds 2 SW and 3 SW fish (no grilse) a genetic ‘signature’ different from all other French salmon populations & unchanged since the 70's (Perrier, 2011)

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Main actions concerning accessibility of habitats in the next few years to increase the part of natural reproduction

Construction (or improvement) of ~ 40 new fish pass (« special discussions » for the 3 first dams on Dordogne)

mortality reduction on downstream migration (actually ~ 20% for each basin) : ~ 60 bypass systems for salmon (and eel)

Accessibility and potential habitat : Adour, Garonne-Dordogne

Nouvelle en construction MSI 2016

En service

Accessibility and potential habitat in Rhine

The main actions include :-opening locks Haringvliet the Netherlands,

-restoration of spawning grounds in tributaries partly German and

-development of fishways on hydroelectric French side

=> a total cost of several hundred million euros.

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Restocking

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Stocking on Adour-Garonne-Dordogne

For all basins : première origine exogène puis « parents sauvages » au début des années 90Adour : - Oloron + Nive 4.6 M YOY from 1983 to 2010 (stop in 2010) - Pau 6.0 M YOY from 1983 to 2013

4.8 M YOY from 2004 to 2012

Garonne – Dordogne : ~ 1 M fish par year (more 90% YOY) since ~ 15 years

Good survival in rivers : ~ 8% from YOY to smolt on Garonne. But low return rates on Dordogne and Garonne :

0.05 – 0.08% for YOY 0.2 to 1% for smolt.

One big hatchery since 2001, dimensioned for smolt

~ 1 million fed fries/year, 80% in the Allier system

200,000 smolts/year + same N° of autumal parrs

Very low (and decreasing) average return rate of stcoked smolts at Vichy: 0.6 ‰.

All stocking may account for 80% of adult returns in the R. Allier in the last 10 years (Population Viability Model: Dauphin & Prévost, 2013)

Stocking on Loire-Allier

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Without stocking , the populationwould have persisted, at a smaller level (260 adults)

Stocking did not restore a self-sustaining population: Allier salmon still on a slippery slope

Stocking is not a solution, but no action is not a valid option either

Mortalities must be reduced (significantly) to restore a self sustaining stock: improving migration transparency should help (among other things)

(Dauphin & Prévost, 2013)

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Thank you for your attention