Poutine fishing is a highly regulated traditional fishery that has been practiced for centuries. Authorized only 45 days a year to preserve the resource, some call it “the caviar of the Mediterranean”. There are only around ten fishermen left practicing it on the Nice coast.
It is nicknamed “the caviar of Nice”: poutine, very young fish caught for barely two months, at the very beginning of spring. Fishing begins in the early morning. After five years of scarcity, she has, in recent days, been rather prolific. “A lot of wind, a lot of sea. It rained a lot, so all the water in the Var rivers flowed. And if it’s offshore, the poutine comes to shore,” comments fisherman Georges Rainaut.
More than a few fishermen
Georges Rainaut is one of the last fishermen in the area. On board his pointy boat, he sets up his net almost 200 meters from the beach. “When you shoot, the net tightens. It scares the fish, the fish follows, goes to the bottom, gets into the pocket,” he explains. The fish are then collected on dry land, with the help of a few retired comrades.
As soon as the net is emptied, Georges Rainaut’s phone rings and the first customers flock to the seaside. The professionals on the Côte d’Azur are the only ones in Europe to benefit from an exemption to fish for these fry until half April. To preserve the species, they cannot take more than 50 kg per day per boat.
