Fishing on foot: regulations and good practices

Where and how to fish on foot on the Ile de Ré 🦐

In order to avoid overfishing and degradation of the coastline, we can’t share with you the best places to fish on foot.

All we can tell you is that the coasts of the south of the island are the best for foot fishing, around the villages of Rivedoux-Plage, Sainte-Marie-de-Ré, Bois-Plage-en-Ré, La Couarde, Ars-en-Ré and Saint-Clément-des-Baleines.

It’s a bit like mushroom corners, a treasure hunt in the end: it’s only shared by word of mouth 🤫

General regulations 🐚

Fishing is permitted during daylight hours only from sunrise to sunset, year-round, except in the case of classified oyster surges.

The allowable quantities are5 kg of shellfish per person per tide, all species combined.
The quantities allowed for each species, per fisherman and per tide below:

• peaches:3 kg
• hollow oysters:5 kg
• clams: 200 units
• shells: 2 kg
• knives: 5 kg
• flat oysters: 5 kg
• mussels: 5 kg
• scallops: 5 kg
• tellins: 2 kg

There is a minimum size of capture for some species (refer to the sheet minimum sizes and markings of capture of marine species in Charente-Maritime): below these sizes the animals have not yet reproduced.

No land transport vehicles are allowed on the coastline, nor is marine transport allowed on classified shellfish beds.

Before you go fishing, think about asking for rulers, to check the size of your catch, from the tourist offices.

Allowed tools 📏

• 2-finger fork, for prairies
• Hand claw(or clam claw) for prairies, clams, cockles, flounders Piochon (up to 4 cm wide)
• Dishoveler for hollow and flat oysters
• Clam knife for clams, clams
• Ferrated (width should be 10 cm maximum) for razor clams.

Species-specific prohibitions 🦪

• Oyster fishing on foot is open year-round, except on classified beds where it is conducted from February 1 to November 30 each year, with the exception of the Chauveau bed (fishing allowed from February 1 to May 15 each year) and certain sites where it is not allowed.
• Mussel fishing is year-round except on classified beds where it is prohibited.
• Foot fishing for burrowing and non-burrowing shellfish may be prohibited for poor quality beds by sanitary classification of the area.

The no-fishing zones on the Ile de Ré ⛔

General Prohibited Areas:

• In ports and their channels ⛵
• Within 25 meters of marine farming leases 🦪
• In the Lilleau des Niges (Fier d’Ars) nature reserve 🐦

Foot fishing is authorized on the public maritime domain with the exception of the following areas (prefectural decree of June 6, 2017):

• Fier d’Ars: the area bounded on the north by the Riveau channel, on the south by the Villages channel, on the east by the central channel of the fier d’Ars and on the west by the stone dike of the Lilleau des Niges nature reserve.
• Rivedoux-Plage: to the north and northeast, 150 meters around the pier – to the southeast, a strip of 200 meters long as well as the pier of the port at the foot of the bridge of the island of Ré.
• Within the administrative boundaries of the ports (Article R5333-24 of the Transport Code and Article R921-66 of the Rural Code and Maritime Fishing)

Temporary bans due to a health risk:
The condition of the environment can impact the sanitary quality of shellfish. In case of degraded water quality, fishing may be prohibited in certain contaminated areas until standards are restored.
You can find out, about the sanitary state of the site on which you fish, at the town hall or on the website of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Health Agency (ARS)

Fishing ruler, a handy tool! 📏

The ruler is used to measure the minimum size of shellfish allowed to be fished. This very practical tool (water resistant), allows the fisherman to check the compliance of his harvest.

Do you buy the fishing ruler available at the Community of Communes, in the town hall and in the Tourist Offices of the Ile de Ré.

Feel free to check out the tide times in the live info in your stay book (in your menu on the left 🙂 )

more information and contacts: ☎️
ECOGARDES ILE DE RE 05 46 66 56 69
AFFAIRES MARITIMES 05 16 49 61 00