Produits de la mer - n°181 - Avril 2018 - 107

Lionel Flageul

Bruno Vaudour

Dossier ❘ BULOT

Lavage et calibrage à bord de l'Octopussy II de Granville ; star des plateaux de fruits de mer, le bulot vous salue !
Washing and grading aboard the Octopussy II in Granville; star of the seafood platter, the whelk greets you!

he cold dryness of a late February
afternoon which sweeps the fish
market at Granville does not
bother Adeline Denizot as she
does the follow-up of whelk batches on
sale. The quality manager of Normandie
Fraîcheur Mer (NFM) examines the catalogue of supplies and at the same time
checks the boxes aligned in the fish auction. "The labelling of the whelk complies to specific rules according to the size
and degree to which they are affected
by parasites. The classification "Baie de
Granville" corresponds to a product without parasites. The same whelk coming
from another origin will be stamped
"clean" to distinguish it from those with
the Granville trademark," she explains.

Fully alive and clean, these will make
fishmongers happy. A little lower in the
classification, if the gastropod does not
contain much common slipper shell, cooking will get rid of them. Lower still in the
classification are the "mangy" whelks,
covered with barnacles or encrusting
worms, as well as the large ones which
are over 7 cm and are used for the production of meat to export.
The fishing season resumed two weeks
ago and supplies will continually increase
until June at the largest whelk auction in
France. "A good sale is around 13 tons,"
says Adeline Denizot. Far from the maximum of 30 to 40 tons which used to arrive
at the fish auction when fishing had to
comply with fewer regulations.

Résident d'eaux froides

Sources : Marine Institute (Irlande), Marine Management Organisation (RU)

%
Or +
compared to 2015.
Source: FranceAgriMer

Débarquements français en 2016 (en tonnes)
French landings in 2016 (in tons)

es estimations de production européenne sont aléatoires
étant donné la répartition très large du gastéropode. Il existe
également des pêcheries en Amérique du Nord et jusqu'en
Sibérie. En Europe, l'Islande, la Norvège et le Danemark produisent du bulot à petite échelle. Sans commune mesure avec
le Royaume-Uni, premier pays producteur en Europe avec
22 700 tonnes en 2016. La France est en deuxième position
avec 14 600 tonnes, suivie par l'Irlande autour de 3 000 tonnes.

%
of sales outside the
fish auction in 2017.
Average rate in
French auctions:
€1.95/kg in 2017.

Baie de Granville
6 590

Baie de Seine
2 255
Baie de
Saint-Malo
2 200

Côte d'Albâtre
873
Hauts-de-France
525

Autres
307

Baie de Saint-Brieuc
1 850

Source : Ifremer SIH

Cradle of French production, the West
Cotentin fishery has been the subject of
management measures since 1979. But
over the years, fishermen have strengthened the regulation of their trade, limiting
the number of pots, imposing on themselves
the restriction of a biological rest period and
increasing the spacing of the sorting bars
on board to limit the number of undersized
whelks. This amounts to bringing the minimum catch size up to 47 mm, beyond the
legal size of 45 mm. Among the many decisions made to preserve the resource, the
one regarding size was the most effective
to preserve genitors. "Control of the fishery puts an end to excess, itself linked to
overfishing. From 9,000 tons in the nineties, production at Granville Bay has stabilized at around 6,000 tons today," says
Arnauld Manner, manager of NFM.
A reduced supply from Granville will
create an incentive for other regions
which are less regulated. Whelk fisheries
started in Saint-Malo in 1990, followed
by Saint-Brieuc. They were later imitated
by the Baie de Seine and the Côte d'Albâtre. Whelk fishing is now practised in
Boulogne where resources seem promising. New areas are in operation when
the supply runs out. Especially in the summer as the fishing period gets shorter and
shorter. "Large whelk-fishing vessels from

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PRODUITS DE LA MER N°181 AVRIL 2018

❘ 107 ❘

Table des matières de la publication Produits de la mer - n°181 - Avril 2018