Animal testing: One Voice is against electric fishing to take a census of fish

In the Lozère, Corrèze, Loire, and Rhône Departments, they are preparing to snatch fish from their waters and their natural habitats to take a census of them. While the majority of them should then be released alive, all of them will suffer from this experience long after it is over. The fault lies with the electric current which will be used to attract them and stun them on the spot in order to collect them more easily. Electric fishing, despite being widely used, is very dangerous, just as much for the animals as it is for their ecosystems. In 2022, the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) reminded us that this method can “cause damage to fish”, such as injuries to the spine, physiological and behavioural changes... To the point where the weakest might die instantly, while others may succumb to their injuries after having been released.

The risk of anomalies...

It is already unbearable to make fish suffer to obtain data on their populations. But it would seem that in addition to organising such projects, the decrees issued entrust them to anyone, anyhow. Independent firms have notably received authorisation to act at dam level in Corrèze and at a water course in Rhône, while the OFB reports having noted ‘significant anomalies’ among subcontractors who do not regulate all of the apparatus in the same way and also risk causing additional injuries to the fish.

...and happy fishers

We are not even talking about the authorisations that have been given to associations dedicated to fishing, such as the Maison de l’eau et de la pêche [House of freshwater and fishing] and the Departmental Federation of Fishing in Corrèze. How can we hope that associations whose main interest is practising fishing would undertake serious and impartial inventory work? In terms of captures for which the aims are very vaguely described and which are not subject to any limit on the number of fish, participation from fishing associations can only be a concern to us.

One Voice is asking prefectures to renounce the passing of these decrees that are harmful for fish and, at the very least, to return to methods that cause less pain to the animals captured.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice