Interview with Martin Huret, coordinator of the TRANSPEL program on small pelagics

8 minutes

oceans and society

Martin Huret, a fisheries researcher specializing in small pelagics at Ifremer, took part in four research programs, including one as coordinator. The results will be presented in April at the Transpel conference in Plouzané. He explains the scientific, economic and social context of this event and the four major scientific programs on small pelagics such as sardines and anchovies.

Interview by Maud Lénée-Corrèze

Cover Photo : Martin Huret aboard the oceanographic vessel Thalassa © Ifremer

Océans Connectés : What is the program for the Transpel symposium?

Martin Huret : There will be three full days, from April1 to 4, with numerous presentations of scientific work, either orally or in the form of posters on display throughout the symposium. On Wednesday evening, we’ll be holding a conference at Océanopolis, where we’ll be talking to the public about three topics in the form of round-table discussions: the observation of small pelagic fish to mark the 25th anniversary of the PELGAS fishing campaign; the specific features of the French canning industry, a way of celebrating the centenary of the Penn Sardine strike in Douarnenez; and finally, a theme on the state of health of pelagic ecosystems. And then on Thursday, we’d like to hold another round-table discussion with professionals on the challenges of transition in the industry. We hope they’ll come in large numbers, to make this symposium a real encounter between scientists and economic players, from fishermen to canners.

During the 2011 PELGAS campaign, a larvae net is launched aboard the oceanographic vessel Thalassa ©Florence Sanchez/Ifremer

O.C. : This symposium comes at the end of four research programs: DEFIPEL, DELMOGES, OMEGA and FORESEA. Could you outline the aims of each of them, and what makes them so interesting in comparison with previous projects?

M.H. : Each of these projects had a strong interdisciplinary character, in order to work on all the dimensions of the socio-ecosystems associated with the seafood sectors, and in particular that of small pelagics for the DEFIPEL and OMEGA projects. These programs were set against a backdrop of shrinking small pelagic populations in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic coast, increasingly linked to the effects of climate change. The first aim was to better understand these changes and their impact on the rest of the food chain, since small pelagics are “forage” species, responsible for transferring energy and essential elements such as omega-3s to marine mammals, birds… and humans.

With DEFIPEL, which aimed to develop an integrated management approach for the small pelagics industry, we went beyond the study of fish ecology and population dynamics, on which we have historically focused, by adding analysis of the entire socio-economic fabric dependent on these species, not only the fishermen, but also the downstream industry, canners, distributors and consumers.

The Sentinelle anchovy-sardine project, carried out between 2009 and 2010, was complementary to Ifremer’s annual PELGAS fishing campaign. It aims to use fishing vessels to carry out year-round monitoring of two key anchovy and sardine habitats in the Bay of Biscay. A sample will be taken from all the anchovies caught here to study them  © Damien Delaunay/Ifremer

With OMEGA, we investigated the potential effects of a decrease in omega-3 availability within marine food chains, as anticipated under the influence of ocean warming. Could this reduction in omega-3s partly explain the growth decreases observed in sardines? Sociologists have also studied the way in which the nutritional quality of sardine cans – which are increasingly labelled “rich in omega-3” – is perceived by consumers, whether or not it is an argument for purchasing them, and therefore, ultimately, the extent to which the drop in the concentration of these fatty acids could diminish consumer appeal for these products.

DELMOGES was interested in dolphin bycatch, which has increased sharply since 2016. We observed that the spatial distribution of small pelagic fish had changed in the Bay of Biscay, moving closer to the coast, due in particular to the disappearance of large sardines offshore. One hypothesis put forward is that their predators, particularly dolphins, have followed them, increasing their interactions with fishermen.

Finally, FORESEA was more global in scope, as it raised the question of the availability of seafood products in France by 2050, based on various IPCC scenarios. We carried out a wide-ranging foresight exercise with a specialist in order to establish different narratives for the evolution of the seafood industry, covering the state of the resource, associated fisheries, governance and changing consumer behavior. Even if it wasn’t just about small pelagics, these, which account for a large proportion of the diet of the largest fish and a quarter of the world’s catches, are a food issue for many countries, including France.

Sardines, which have been fished for a very long time, are important sources of omega-3 for marine mammals and humans alike. They are consumed in many parts of the world © pexels/ Thiago

O.C. : And on the economic and social fronts?

M.H. : Fishermen are not only dependent on biomass, but also on the downstream industry, in particular canners who have requirements in terms of sardine size and fat content, for reasons of nutritional quality and production cost. If fish size continues to decline, even with a stable biomass, there is a major risk for this sector in the Bay of Biscay in the short term, as has happened in the Mediterranean with a 10-fold drop in landings. We have worked with professionals on new management approaches, to go beyond simple biomass indices, by including the interests of all players in the industry, such as canners. Several tools have been created, including a dashboard available online, bringing together time series on the state of the pelagic habitat, the resource, the fisheries and the economy of the downstream sector, providing a rapid, comprehensive diagnosis of the state of the socio-ecosystem. Scenarios for the industry’s development over the next 10 years, based on what was desirable, undesirable and probable, were also drawn up to help the industry project itself into the future.

Also during the Sentinel anchovy-sardine campaign, study of catches, here of anchovies © Damien Delaunay/Ifremer

The OMEGA and FORESEA projects have enabled us to get to the heart of issues related to the French industry, such as international competition for resources. Indeed, the small pelagic fish industry is international, with, for example, a significant proportion of the tins in our supermarkets filled with Moroccan sardines. The question of food sovereignty is also raised by the fact that a growing proportion of small pelagic fish ends up as meal for salmon farms in particular, which essentially benefit consumers in northern countries at the expense of those in southern countries, where most of these small pelagic fish come from.

O.C. : In particular, you worked with professionals on DEFIPEL and DELMOGES – funded in part by France Filière Pêche – what did this collaborative work bring you?

M.H. : We have forged stronger relationships with fishermen and other economic players. At Ifremer, we’ve always interacted with the fishing industry, for example on our annual PELGAS biomass assessment campaigns in the Bay of Biscay, but never in such a collaborative way on small pelagic projects. They now have more confidence in our data and results, having understood our methods. It’s become natural to get together to discuss the latest developments in the industry and our latest advances in research and expertise. By working with fishermen and canners, we can get to grips with their concerns, integrate their empirical knowledge of the field, and thus give greater meaning to our research.

Since 2007, fishing vessels have accompanied the oceanographic vessel Thalassa during the PELGAS campaign  ©Damien Delaunay/Ifremer

Obviously, this collaboration is not always so fluid: for the DELMOGES program, relations with the industry were considerably more complex because it was carried out during the very tense period that led to the closure of fishing in the Bay of Biscay in February 2024, extended to 2025. It was not possible to carry out co-construction work in the best possible conditions, in order to find solutions that would have the least possible impact on both dolphins and fishermen.

This example clearly illustrates the difficulties linked to the difference in timing between research and the urgent needs of professionals. While they need an answer tomorrow, our research can sometimes take several years to come to fruition.

O.C. : How do you see the future?

M.H. : We would like to continue the programs, and are talking about a DEFIPEL 2 to make our tools more operational and ensure that they are regularly updated – today’s indicators stop in 2020. From a research point of view, we’re working on the right definition of management units, based on our population genetic analysis results, which would enable us to redefine the northern limit of the Bay of Biscay sardine stock. They might not stop at the tip of Brittany, but further north, probably in the middle of the English Channel. We would also like to carry out more laboratory experiments to increase our knowledge of the effects of environmental forcing on fish, but to do this we need to work on the rearing of these species, which we do not yet master over their entire life cycle.

And, of course, we’ll be continuing our collaboration with the industry, trying to broaden it to include players from civil society, NGOs and even consumers.


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