Last modified: 2011-12-23 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Bras-Panon]](../images/r/re-brap.gif)
Flag of Bras-Panon - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 24 January 2009
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The municipality of Bras-Panon (11,865 inhabitants; 8,855 ha) is located on the eastern side of the island. Stretching out from the seashore to the mountains, Bras-Panon is self-styled the ville jardin (garden town).
In 1736, François Garnier and consorts required a boundary marking from the Higher Council of Isle Bourbon (the name of Reunion at that time). Commissioned by the Council to mark the territory located at
the confluency of two ravines, Joseph Panon fell down on the bank of a
ravine and broke his arm, in French, bras. The ravine was named
"Bras-à-Panon" or "Bras-Panon", a name which was reused for the new
municipality established there by Decree of President of the Republic
Jules Grévy on 24 February 1882; population of the municpality was
then 2,587.
Paul Moreau, Mayor of Bras-Panon for 36 years (1959-1995) and Senator
(1987-1995) founded in 1951 the Cooperative of the Producers of
Natural Vanilla; he organized the first vanilla trade fair of Bras-
Panon in 1969 in the yard of the cooperative. From a small event
involving 10 merchants visited by 10,000 for three days, the fair
increased to the main vanilla and agriculture event of the island,
with 200 merchants visited by 200,000 for ten days.
Source: Municipal website
Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 9 February 2009
The flag of Bras-Panon, hoisted in front of the town hall, is white with the municipal emblem.
The most characteristic element of the municipal emblem is the small fish locally called bichique (indeed a Madagascan
name; in Creole, bisik). Known under the Latin name Sicyopterus
lagocephalus Pallas, the bichique is common in most warm waters all
around the word. The fish is known in English as "rabbithead cling-goby" (Australia) and "red-tailed goby" (Sri Lanka).
A small fish (c. 10 cm) , the bichique "climbs" the rivers upstream,
using its ventral sucker to "climb" cascades. Found up to 1,000 m asl,
the bichique lay 50,000-70,000 eggs upstream in January-June; the
larvae are then carried away downstream to the ocean. At the October
full moon, the alevins, measuring c. 3 cm, gather at the mouth of the
rivers to "climb" upstrram. Bichique is mostly fished on the eastern
windward side of the island, during rain events, especially in the
Rivi¸re des Roches (Rock's River), located at Bras-Panon. The mouth of
the rivers is divided by the fishers in a set of canals completely
blocked by conic nets locally called vouves (another Madagascan
word), once made of vegetal fibers and more and more often made of
nylon framed on metal.
The main component of the cari bishik, bichiques are highly
prized, up to 30-50 € per kg (therefore the nickname of "Reunion
caviar"). The proverb poison i manz bisik (in French, le poisson
mange la bichique, "the fish eats bichique") means "might is right".
Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 9 February 2009