Long Term Cooperation Between Freshwater Traditional Commercial Fishermen and Researchers about Silver European Eel Knowledge and Management : The Best Way for Best Results on Eel Populations of the Loire River France

The professional fishery of Loire River has always existed as archaeological remains revealed. This creates a huge diversity of fishing practices, gears and knowledge on river functioning and fish ecology. In the thirties, 15 fisheries imported anchored stownet techniques from the Netherlands in order to focus on silver eel captures. During the eighties, these fishermen decided to become partners for management and research on silver eel populations. They provided long term series on yields and daily CPUE of silver eel captures which now constitutes one of the most robust data set on silver eels in a large river system of Europe. These data were used in a number of fundamental studies. A cooperative study with scientists and the French Electricity Board (EDF) enabled to provide a migration predictive model used to mitigate the effects of turbine mortality. Collaboration on the EELIAD project enabled to provide eels for a set of satellite tagging experiments. A collaboration with the French Muséum and the University of Tours, as part of INDICANG project, enabled to produce a unique monitoring of silver eel production by the Loire River. This long term cooperation is now threatened because of a lack of political support.