Anita Conti

Anita Conti (; née Caracotchian) (17 May 1899 – 25 December 1997) was a French-Armenian explorer and photographer, and the first female oceanographer in France.

Between the two World Wars, she began drawing the first fishing maps, when only navigation charts were available. Her scientific activity helped to rationalise deep-sea fishing practices and revolutionised aquaculture. From the 1940s onwards, she became concerned about the effects of industrial fishing on halieutic resources and ecosystems.

Biography

Early life and education Anita Beatrix Marthe Caracotchian was born on 17 May 1899 in Ermont, Seine-et-Oise. Her father was Léon (Leven) Caracotchian, a physician in the field of obstetrics of Armenian origin He had been born on 5 May 1870 in Andrinople (today Edirne, Turkey) and died on 18 January 1956 in Saint-Michel-sur-Orge, Essonne. Her mother was Alice Albertine Lebon, from a French upper middle class background.

Work as a book binder and journalist After moving to Paris age 19, she wrote poems and started binding books. Her unique style was imbued with her Oriental travels and readings. She used skins dyed according to recipes learned in the Caucasus. These creative innovations attracted the attention of many collectors and amateurs.

Her Parisian workshop notably welcomed Pierre Mac Orlan, who nicknamed her "the one who listens to books speak". Before ending her career as an art bookbinder in 1939, she was rewarded with numerous prizes in prestigious London, Paris, New York and Brussels salons, such as the Salon d’Automne or the Salon des Arts Décoratifs. He left her free to travel and write her own reports. In 1934, she published an investigation on oyster beds. Anita Conti also worked as a journalist for Le Figaro,

Office Scientifique et Technique des Pêches Maritimes (1934–1942) In 1934, Anita Conti was hired by Eduard Le Danois, a French zoologist, at the Office Scientifique et Technique des Pêches Maritimes (OSTPM) (today called IFREMER) as "propaganda manager". In 1935, during the inauguration of the "Palais de la Mer" (Biarritz Aquarium), her role was to receive journalists. She then joined the first océonographic vessel, Président Théodore Tissier. Although self-taught, she took measurements and samples, while observing fishing techniques. Gradually, the whole team built up a first oceanographic database as they travelled between Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Iceland and Spitsbergen. There, as the only woman, she had to make her own uniform.

Back in France, she escaped the Occupied Territory on board the fishing trawler Le Volontaire.

For ten years, she worked to develop better conservation techniques, trained artisanal fishermen with new fishing methods and installed artificial dens and dryers for further studies. She founded many smokehouses and an experimental fishery for sharks in Guinea as she particularly focused on making known the virtues of shark liver, which is particularly rich in vitamins. Gradually, she became more and more conscientious of the misuse of natural resources by European fishing industries and the major waste that could be prevented.

Bois Rosé III (1952) In 1952, Conti worked on a 74 meter Fécamp fishing vessel, Bois Rosé III with Captain Eugène Recher. In her book Racleurs d'Océan (1953), Conti denounced the disastrous exploitation of halioeutic resources used by these boats. In 1955 it was translated into Spanish (Surcadores de océanos) and English (Deep Sea Saga). She was outraged by the waste she saw on board the ships, which threw large quantities of fish trapped in the nets back into the sea because they had no commercial value.

At the end of the 1950s, she worked for Commander Jacques Cousteau for two years at the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco. She listed poorly classified species. Louis Le Pensec, French Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries at the time, wrote: "Anita Conti - our great lady of the sea - has left us in Douarnenez on a stormy night that was also a Christmas Eve". La Prairie paid tribute to her as La dame de mer de la France in the anthology Nos Marins (2005).

Several French school or infrastructures were named after Anita Conti:

Lycée Anita Conti in Bruz (35170) Collège Anita Conti in Lorient (56100) Collège Anita Conti in Saint-Nazaire (44600) Lycée maritime Anita Conti in Fécamp (76402) Anita Conti Primary School Plouescat (29430) Anita Conti Primary School Plouzané (29263) The médiathèque in Beaucouzé (Maine-et-Loire).

On 17 May 2019 Google Doodle commemorated Anita Conti's 120th birthday.

On June 2, 2018, the symphonic work Anita, op. 81 by the French composer Benoît Menut was premiered by the National Brittany Orchestra. This piece was inspired by thousands of photos taken by Anita Conti during her trips, in particular those taken during the Newfoundland campaign on board the vessel Bois Rosé in 1952. Benoît Menut describes his music as lyrical and contemplative.

Anita Conti famously said: "La mer est un miroir qui nous ramène à notre propre ignorance".

Selected works Racleurs d'océans, Paris, 1953 (éd. André Bonne), 1993; (éd. Payot & Rivages), 1998 Viking Prize Géants des mers chaudes, Paris, 1957 (éd. André Bonne); éd. Payot & Rivages, 1997 Regard d'une femme sur la guerre des mines à Dunkerque (1995) La route est si longue avant la nuit (anthology of all poetic works), Fécamp, Collège Jules Ferry, 1996 L'Océan, les bêtes et l'homme ou l'ivresse du risque, éd. André Bonne, 1971; éd. Payot & Rivages, Paris, 1999 Les Terre-neuvas, éd. du Chêne, Paris, 2004 Le Carnet viking - 70 jours en mer de Barents (juin-septembre 1939), preface by Catherine Poulain, introduction by Laurent Girault-Conti, éd. Payot "Petite Biblio Voyageurs", 2018 Les Vaisseaux du Hasard (poetry), limited edition, 2020.

Anita Conti authored many newspaper articles. Some examples include:

In l'Illustration:

" Comment on découvre un nouveau fond de pêche ", " Sur les champs de pêche et sur les champs de mines ", " La pêche sur le front de mer "...

In Mer et Colonies, of the French Maritime and Colonial League:

" Batiments de pêche et défense littorale "

In Neptunia, of the Association of Friends of the Musée de la Marina:

" Requins ", " La vie obscure des bêtes océaniques ", " La Centième nuit à l'Ile de l'Ours ", " Hivernage au Pays des Eaux ", " Nuit de mer deep "...