Magnet fishing

The popularity of magnet fishing: waste rather than fish...

Magnet fishing involves removing metal waste from the water. Today it is used to clean the bottomlands of the Rhône and the Saône. However, this hobby is not without risk for aquatic life.

Fishing Magnet

• Lyon, report

“  Hook!  " The injunction slap in the air. “  The magnet is stuck, I think it's a motorcycle. Use your hook to help it up.  " Hands are busy, ropes are stretched in the water of the Saône. The maneuver is complex, it takes ten minutes and hands to uproot from the river a booty attacked by rust. "  Nice catch, isn't it  ?"  » Asks Agnes, with a sigh of relief after the effort. At its feet, the remains of an old motorbike invaded by a colony of mussels.

Quai Fulchiron, in Lyon, a unique group of fishermen unpacked magnets, hooks and protective gloves. Safety shoes on the feet, the members of the very fresh association Nettoyons Lyon, lead a session to clean up the water in the Rhone capital. Magnet fishing has long been an individual hobby of the local landscape, with no structure to support it. Its practice now brings together a community of around sixty participants. Two to three times a week, they meet to dredge the bottoms of the Rhône and the Saône, which converge in Lyon.

Fishing Magnet

"  Does it bite?  " Inquired teasingly, a teenager. At the time of leaving high school, ten students observe the fishermen. "  Can we try  ?" Is it a magnet or a hook?  " Asks one of them. “  We combine the two: first the magnet to detect and pull the waste, then the grapple to help lift it. Take a pair of gloves, I'll show you, answers a fisherman. This is a magnet capable of lifting 1,400 kilos, be careful.  "