Résumé
Fisheries activity in the Thau marine lagoon (Mediterranean coast of France) rests mainly upon the eel,
Anguilla anguilla L. It involves several types of gears: nets, traps and lines, that are used with varying frequencies in different areas at different parts of the year. We showed that the various types of gear select for different fish size classes, with each method focusing on a particular part of the eel stock; that lives at a particular depth. Data was collected weekly during 28 months. Time series analysis (contingency periodogram) made it possible to reveal significant periods of 6 and 12 months in the landings and in the fishing effort data series. Hypotheses about the influence of environmental determinants on the behaviour of fish and fishermen and on the interactions between them, and effects on landings, were tested using the method of path analysis; we found that effort is the most important determinant of landings, while temperature and lunar coefficient also have an effect. The resulting models differ depending on the type of gear under study: ‘capêchades’ on the one hand, used mostly by occasional fishermen, and ‘triangles’, ‘brandines’ and longlines on the other, used mostly by resident fishermen.