An invasion of voracious octopuses is threatening the shellfish industry of Brittany and the southern French Atlantic coast after a rise in water temperature stemming from climate change and a lack of predators.
Fishermen along the Bay of Biscay coast have been surprised by the proliferation over the past two years of a species that had almost disappeared in the 1960s and is normally found off Spain and Portugal.
The industry is making the most of the plentiful catch but the invaders are devouring the more profitable local stocks of scallops and lobster. About 1,500 tonnes of octopus will have been landed along the coast this year, over five times the haul in 2019. The quayside markets of the Morbihan département in southern Brittany have recorded about 200 tonnes of octopus this year compared with two tonnes lasy year.
Jean Piel, a member of the local Sea Fishing Committee, said the octopus catch was lucrative now but could be fatal for the industry. “They eat everything that they find, especially scallops,” he said. “A coquille Saint Jacques [or great scallop] takes seven years to mature. Next year is going to be a disaster,” he told the Sud Ouest.
Experts say the octopuses, which weigh up to 10kg (22lb), are opportunists devouring everything around them. “When we see them in their holes, they are often surrounded by cleaned-out shells,” Samuel Iglésias, a researcher at the Maritime Station at the Breton port of Concarneau, said. “With the pressure that they can apply with their suckers, they can open big bivalves like scallops,” he told Le Telegramme, the Breton newspaper.
Advertisement
Iglésias said a small warming in the sea had enabled the octopuses to proliferate. Man-made climate change was partly responsible, along with a natural cycle of several decades which causes fluctuations in sea temperature. Octopuses had been scarce in the region since the exceptionally cold temperatures of 1962-63. A lack of predators, such as sea bass, meagre and seals is believed to have allowed them to thrive.
The industry is asking for state or European aid to soften the blow from the shrunken seafood catch.
Olivier Le Nézet, of the Brittany Regional Fishing Committee, said: “I am calling for the payment of fisheries disaster relief like there is compensation for farmers who lose their crops.”
