347times, a lower natural weir or spillway which may have been
passable with suitable water fl ow speeds (Tissandier 1873 ).
This natural weir has been constantly modifi ed over
time. There would seem to have originally been a much
higher weir, as during periods of drought, the millers of
Besse would dig into this weir to increase the fl ow of water,
thus lowering the level of the lake and thereby reducing the
difference in water level between the lake and neighboring
waterways (Eusébio and Reynouard 1925 ). Bruyant ( 1909 )
cites excavation work by Reynouard who updated an irriga-
tion canal linking the borders of the lake to Olpilière from
which the canal could join the Rif stream. Nothing, there-
fore, would have prevented the species from reaching the
lake over time. Remember abbot Delarbre’s ( 1795 ) words:
“ I would not guarantee it, but I have seen fi sh break the
surface of the water ”—this type of behavior hardly resem-
bles that of minnows and stickleback. While the presence
of brown trout cannot be defi nitively excluded, the site nev-
ertheless possesses no favorable breeding grounds for
brown trout (lack of tributaries), and it is currently impos-
sible to establish a lifecycle in the lake for this species.
21.2 The Nineteenth Century, A Turning
Point for the Fish Population
This period is very well documented, with Berthoule ( 1890 ),
Eusébio and Reynouard ( 1925 ) and Olivier ( 1939 ) playing
important roles in stocking the lake with fi sh. Rico, a lake
fi sh farmer, joined Lecoq, who was director of Clermont’s
botanical garden and the museum of natural history, dean of
the city’s College of Science, vice-chairman of the Puy-de-
Dôme Central Agricultural Society, and head of the
Clermont-Ferrand piscicultural laboratory. In 1859, Rico,
Lecoq and Delmas introduced:
- 92000 brown trout ( Salmo trutta )
- 20000 salmon ( Salmo salar )
- 18 huchen ( Hucho hucho )
- 8000 Arctic char ( Salvelinus alpinus )
- 130 tench or common roach ( Rutilus rutilus or Tinca
tinca ?) - 200 adult crayfi sh
Other species were also introduced, whether in 1859 or in
subsequent years remains unknown. Olivier ( 1939 ) reports
the introduction of eel ( Anguilla anguilla ).
According to Machino ( 1991 ), the initial batch of Arctic
char came from the Imperial Pisciculture of Huningue (68),
as did a great number of fi sh at the time given it status as a
pioneer in salmon farming and an important source of
dissemination throughout France. The Pisciculture
Départementale de Clermont Ferrand was at that time
engaged in the production of fry for the department’s lakes
and rivers. Bruyant (then deputy director of the Besse bio-
logical station) further developed the laboratory created by
Rico by combining a production laboratory with the pisci-
cultural research facility at the Besse biological station. The
fi sh released into the department’s lakes and streams had
been raised in the basement of Besse biological station with
the help of Jean Baptiste Eusébio (General Secretary of the
Société de Pêche et de Pisciculture du Puy-de-Dôme ). Later
on (between 1900 and 1906), some of the char used to sup-
ply the Besse fi sh farm came from the Pisciculture
Domaniale de Rives at Thonon-les-Bains on Lake Geneva.
Thus it was that Ch. Bruyant was fi rst to imagine creating at
Besse a station both practical and scientifi c: scientifi c from the
point of view of studying the fauna and fl ora of the lakes, their
geological formation, the physical phenomena which shaped
their contours; practical from a fi sh farming perspective, these
magnifi cent natural water pools to be used:
First, to harvest the breeders which will spawn thousands of fry
for the laboratory to use to repopulate the streams of the
department, and
Second, to make rational and intensive use of the best species.
This means, from a piscicultural perspective, resuming
Rico’s wonderful program. The Conseil Général du Puy-de-
Dôme quickly understood the interest presented in this test of
scientifi c decentralization, unprecedented in France at that
time; it sponsored the work, subsidized it in great part with-
out becoming discouraged by the slowness of the process of
trial and error which inevitably marks the beginnings of such
a project, and never lost confi dence in Ch. Bruyant until he
was at last able to fi nd the form and defi nitive installation
that best suited the station and would allow him to begin
seriously achieving results.Today, Mr. Bruyant, departmental director of the fi sh farm
service, has created, again thanks to the Conseil Général du
Puy-de-Dôme, a model facility that he baptized The
Limnological Station of Besse and placed under the patron-
age of the French Association for the Advancement of Science
at the closing of the Congress held in Clermont-Ferrand in
August, 1908, noting that the previous Congress of 1876 had
similarly inaugurated another original, scientifi c work, the
meteorological observatory at the summit of the Puy-de-
Dôme, which has since grown in stature and gained the noto-
riety it enjoys today. The similarity is striking, and is a good
omen (Reynouard 1909 ).Following a fl ood of the lake in 1861, work was begun to
prevent fi sh from the lake swimming into the Couze Pavin.
Lake farmer Rico installed grilles and a spillway. It is
interesting to note that this work was not undertaken to pro-
tect the river from the introduction of non-native species,
which is the current rule.
In 1874, a 14.5 kg huchen was caught in a fi shing net (the
specimen had minnows, stickleback, and crayfi sh in its stom-
ach)—its head is still on display at Besse biological station.
Many outstanding catches have been reported, with lake
farmers having captured 2984 trout, salmon or Arctic char21 History of the Fish Fauna of Lake Pavin: A Population Heavily Infl uenced by Man?