Squadron leader Didier Walinski recognizes this. “At the start, we made a lot of people smile by talking about clams,” he confides to 20 Minutes. However, it was a major illegal fishing network for this shellfish which was dismantled by the police after nine months of investigation. On Monday, they arrested 25 people suspected of belonging to a network which had collected around 24 tonnes of clams since February in the Etang de Berre. A case of this magnitude is “quite rare”, underlines the officer.
At the start of the year, the gendarmes were alerted by fishing professionals in Châteauneuf-les-Martigues who complained of seeing people collecting large quantities of clams. “An individual is only allowed to take 2 kg, and only on certain days of the week,” explains the number 2 of the Mediterranean maritime gendarmerie. The military will carry out surveillance and notice, during checks, that some people pick up several dozen kilos.
“Health risk”
Throughout their observations, they notice that the offenders are always the same. Around fifteen fishermen collect around a hundred kilos of clams every two days. The gendarmes discovered that the shellfish were then sold for 6 euros per kilo to a company based in Hérault which, however, did not have any health approval. They were then resold to individuals or restaurateurs who paid little attention to the origin.
The economic and financial damage is estimated at 108,800 euros. “However, there is a health risk,” emphasizes squadron leader Didier Walinski. Last October, shellfish fishing was banned on the Berre pond, the bacteria Escherichia coli having been detected. Which did not stop these fishermen from going to collect clams.
On Monday, the soldiers took action. Around fifty of them were mobilized to question the two leaders of the Hérault company and the fishermen. At the end of police custody, the Aix-en-Provence public prosecutor’s office prosecuted the eight main suspects before the criminal court. They will be judged in September 2025.
Ten other people were summoned for a preliminary admission of guilt hearing, two others for a criminal order, and five for a criminal composition. Finally, two vehicles and 159,000 euros were seized.
