Managing the Traditional Fishponds of Central Lowland France

Every November some of the local fish ponds (étangs) are emptied. This is done on a rotational basis, so that individual ponds are emptied on a cycle that may be as short as two years, but could be as long as seven. Members of the public are invited to attend, and the resulting catch can be purchased in bulk very cheaply.

The process will begin with a controlled and progressive lowering of the water level over the period of a week or two. On the final day they will round up the fish and finishing the drainage of the lake. It's an excuse for a fête, and a most interesting day out. 

Water rushing out into the Echandon River from the étang at le Louroux through the sluice system (with flow directed by the clever and judicious use of haybales).

The emptying of the étang is necessary to manage and harvest the fish, but also allows work to be done to improve the quality of the water and to preserve and augment biodiversity. A traditional fish netting is organised to capture the pike (brochets), zander (sandres), perch (perches), carp (carpes), tench (tanches) and roach (gardons) living in the lake. It's very important for ongoing water quality that the base of the lake is aerated periodically, so the sediment is exposed from time to time in a managed way. The Etang in the photos, at Le Louroux, is drained every year or two, and about 10 tonne of fish recovered each time.

The fishermen use dragnets (sennes) of different gauges to catch different types or sizes of fish. Big carp and pike come out first, then the more fragile zanders. The remaining little ones are chased around inside the main net with hand nets. They are taken over to sorting tables, weighed and delivered to the sales tent or put into tanks ready to restock other nearby étangs. Small roach and some big carp and pike are put aside to restock the étang which has just been emptied.

Netting the last of the fish.

The étang at Le Louroux is the biggest fish pond in Indre-et-Loire and one of 10 'Espaces naturels sensible' (Sensitive Natural Spaces) owned and administered by the département since 1990. Its flora and fauna is exceptionally rich, with 200 species of birds recorded and it is a favoured site for passage migrants. The money raised by the sale of fish from here goes towards the management and development of the site.

The sludgy lake bottom.

The nature reserve covers 110 ha, of which 60 ha is the fish pond itself. Historically, the étang was part of the fortified priory at Le Louroux. As an ensemble, the village, dyke, mill, lake and priory present a rather fairytale aspect today, but the étang is the result of some hard working Benedictine monks (or more probably, their lay brothers...). The River Echandon was dammed, and the pond profile dug by the 11th century Benedictines. They would have managed the étang they created in an almost identical way to the way it is still managed today. In medieval times people here would have got about a third of their dietary protein from freshwater fish.

The real experts in étang management are the professional pisciculteurs from the Brenne, a wetland area a few kilometres to our east. When the big étangs of the south Touraine like le Louroux need intervention it is these Berrichon fish farmers who advise and supervise. Traditionally, the étangs of the Brenne are in series, with one emptying into another, from top to bottom.

Further reading: My habitat page on étangs on Loire Valley Nature https://loirenature.blogspot.com/2013/03/small-man-made-lakes-etangs.html.