In addition, incomplete solutions often only acts on adults, without taking into account the real problem: larvae. The mosquito living in a perimeter of 30 to 150 meters, the health authorities advise above all to tackle the stagnant water points, which are full of nests. These could prove to be real traps to combat the scourge of summer, thanks to a friend called Poecilia Reticulata in Latin.
To fight against mosquitoes, you have to start by locating the stagnant water points.
Wendling Manon/Pyrenees Press
This fish, more often called “Guppy”, is “the weapon of mass destruction” used by Mickaël Pantaleone in his farm. Installed for eight years in Béarn, he promotes biodiversity “with children but also adults” in his epicurean garden in Morlanne.
Widely used in the Antilles
“When I lived in the Antilles, I caught Dengue and Zika. My partner had chikungunya. When we saw that an indigenous case arrived in the 64, we thought that we had to do something because it is not with insecticides that we will stop them ”. It was then that he remembers the techniques used overseas to fight against mosquitoes and gets these famous guppys.
“There, we place it in water tanks that are used to wash us but also to irrigate. He can live in closed environments, sticky waters and in the most total darkness. At home, just a bowl, an empty trash can or a bucket that will serve as a terroir. When we didn’t have a guppy in the tank of our greenhouse, it was stuffed with mosquitoes, ”says the Morlannais gardener. Gambusy (its name in the south west) feeds on small invertebrates. If she eats mosquito larvae, she prefers vase worms, seaweed or non -biting mosquito larvae.
Efficiency called into question
Since the 1940s, the Guppys, which have hardly measured more than seven centimeters, have served as an antimoustics in the Antilles and particularly in Martinique. During the Zika epidemic in 2016, the Isle Regional Health Agency even supported the supervised distribution of Guppys to eradicate mosquitoes for holders of water tanks and did the same in Saint-Martin that year.
Despite the victorious battle of Mickaël Pantaleone on his lands, the effectiveness of the “Mosquito Fish” (his English name) towards mosquito larvae is debated within the scientific community. “Studies on its diet” have shown the ineffectiveness of Gambusia “in Corsica and in Camargue where it has been present since the 1920s,” said a report by the French Biodiversity Office published in 2023.
“A weapon of mass destruction”
After having lived in the Antilles, Mickaël Pantaleone, set up his epicurean garden in Morlanne where he cultivates all kinds of vegetable species.
Wendling Manon/Pyrenees Press
The report also attests to the invasive character of this exotic species from Florida in the United States. Today widespread in the world, it is “largely responsible for the decline of Aphaniusa kind of small fish initially present in the Mediterranean basin, ”recalls the specialized fishipedia site.
A risk aware by Mickaël Pantaleone: “In our small pool, we went from a few to several thousand. It only takes a landing net to get out of it fifty ”, hence his desire to share with anyone who wants, before getting rid of it to challenge his basin also invaded with aquatic plants. And to recall that his intention to give in, should only be done to introduce them “in circles in closed vases, far from natural environments. We would like to launch a citizen momentum. The fight against the mosquito concerns everyone. »»
The farmer converted fish farm despite himself suggests contacting him by email ([email protected]) or on social networks (@garden_epicurean) to pick it up. “We would like a maximum of people to feel concerned, that it makes a snowball effect”
The 64 fishing federation warns on its use
It remains important to remember that the Guppy remains an exotic species that can disrupt local ecosystems. “It is a very prolific fish, alert Fabrice Masseboeuf, technical manager of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques fishing federation. There are already everywhere in the department, sometimes at the expense of local species. If we trust the laws, we should eliminate them. This kind of initiatives are great, but can lead to nonsense. Once you have given the fish, you don’t know what people can do with it. It can quickly become uncontrollable. »»
