Documents

The elaboration of a management plan of a Natura 2000 site needs to describe the different activities to highlight the potential interactions between habitats and species with a community interest. The COREPEM, in charge of the pilot site Plateau du Four, in Loire Atlantique, realized a study on the activities of recreative fishing, which are bad known activities at the close geographical level.
Two enquiries methods were used: one by questionnaire, largely spread, and a following of the numbers of recreative fishermen via counting realized directly by volunteers, especially professional fishermen.
The enquiry by questionnaire allowed getting lots of information on the uses in the Plateau du Four (boat fishing, harpoon fishing and foot fishing), and on the fishermen themselves. It allowed to the people to give their feelings about the evolution of the site too (environment and activities).
The participative following by counting presented a double advantage to quantify and spatialize the numbers of people on the site with few means and to involve the users in the Natura 2000 procedure. The multiplication of the counting allows getting reliable statistics, especially for the recreative fishings. The implementation of a simple protocol and the quality control of the data are necessary.