“Sharing remains possible”: Thau Kite Club convinced of cohabitation with fishermen on the Ingril pond in Frontignan

Despite recent events, Delphine Termignon and Marc Anthérieu (Thau Kite Club) believe in peaceful cohabitation on the Ingril pond. Midi Libre – Patrice Espinasse

After a fisherman's outburst, the Thau Kite Club still believes in the effectiveness of the prefectural decree, in respecting customs and in cohabitation with fishermen on the Ingril pond, in Frontignan.

Fishing area and sensitive natural environment, is the Ingril pond doomed to experience tensions? ? The outburst of a fisherman, sentenced to 18 months in prison, 8 of which were suspended probation, under electronic tag, and the ban on appearing on the pond after having driven into windsurfers on July 22, does it confirm the impossibility of cohabitation on the small Frontignan lagoon, scene of friction for nearly 20 years? ?

The Thau Kite Club (TKC) does not think so. With 350 members and a player in management, the association wants to believe in the appeasement between fishermen and water sports enthusiasts.

A historic profession and a 30-year-old practice

Today, several fishing families still make a living from their historic activity on the pond. And the practice of water sports, present for nearly 30 years, has developed there. Kitesurfing, wingfoiling and paddle boarding have been added to the windsurfing boards.

In an attempt to put an end to the tensions, the State and the City of Frontignan brought together all the stakeholders last year. A decree regulating navigation in the southern part of the pond had been issued, with specific periods and times for water sports enthusiasts, excluding paddleboarding.

Ten months after its implementation, the Thau Kite Club believes that this sharing of uses between fishing professionals, schools and practitioners is a step in the right direction. “Maritime gendarmerie, municipal police and nautical brigade come regularly to check. There have only been four fines issued for failure to comply with the timetables,”, recalls Delphine Termignon, president of the TKC.

We even have a fog horn to get people out when it's time!

The association assures that it has been fully involved in implementing the regulations. "We have been engine to install signage with information panels and buoys to mark out the area on the water. We relay the information to our members but we also help to warn all boaters."

“We try to enforce the rule and the practice times, to the best of our ability, adds Marc Anthérieu, head of the TKC branch in Frontignan, who has been sailing on the lagoon for 30 years. We communicate about it. We even have a fog horn to get people out when it's time!”

The schools and instructors working on site are not at fault. On the other hand, outsiders who are unfamiliar with the site and its uses… "95% of users respect a decree formalizing coexistence that no one has challenged. We are talking about a fisherman who slipped and two or three kiters who did not respect the zone", notes Marc Anthérieu.

TKC ready to invest more in the management of the site

The association therefore remains convinced “that a modus vivendi can be found” and even proposes to “invest more in the management of the site”. She also suggests improving the decree “by making it more precise”, particularly on the notion "of obstruction of navigation, which is too vague".

"The decree is an important step forward. It was necessary to regulate. Even if there were still excesses, sharing is possible,”, assures TKC, who believes that his spot at sea is “complementary” but cannot replace that of the shallow pond, which "allows you to navigate safely through tramontane".

See you in the fall for an assessment of the decree, one year later

Signed on September 21, 2023, the decree will be the subject of an assessment this fall, between all parties. "We gave ourselves one year to take stock", confirms Loïc Linarès, deputy mayor of Frontignan, who recognizes "a development of leisure uses generating more constraints", a "problematic with people arriving from the outside who do not know the rules" and "a difficulty in understanding the constraints of each side& quot;.

"Last year, we took a step forward with state services. But if the pond is too small to absorb all the activities, we will be led collectively to make choices", believes Loïc Linarès.

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