Fear over Arcachon Bay

Oyster eradication is possible

The problems of the Arcachon oyster farmers do no stop there. Another plague has appeared last year and causes them great concern. The seed-oysters, young mollusks under one year of age, are dying in large numbers for reasons yet unknown. In a few days, hundreds of thousands of young oysters died. The scourge has even spread to Ireland, Spain and Italy which have been seeing the same phenomenon in their oyster beds.

Jean-Michel Douet at his oyster site in "le banc d'Arguin" © Philippe Henry / OCEAN71 Magazine

In France, which produces over 100,000 tons of oysters, some oyster farmers have lost 100% of their stock last year. This crisis is strangely similar to the great French oyster crisis of the early 1970′s. In two years, an entire species had been decimated which was since replaced by Japanese oysters said to be more resistant.

The Bassin d’Arcachon accounts for 60% of the 4.5 billion seed oysters required by the French oyster production. « If we do not find a solution soon, explain Maria Douet, we are going to find ourselves in the situation of cereal farmers. We will be forced to buy seed oysters from laboratories which will make us financially dependant on multinational corporations. And it doesn’t mean they will survive… Then we’ll have to find another species. »

All sorts of possible reasons have been brought forward: degeneration of the Japanese oysters which were brought in 30 years ago, a virus, stress caused by the 12,000 boats that navigate on the bay during the summer… Conscious of the tragedy unfolding for the oyster farmers, the new Gironde prefect has promised to send oyster samples to the Netherlands where tests are performed using rats, a more resistant animal, and to encourage more diligent research to understand the mysterious disease affecting seed oysters.

Other files

  • Pearls of the Gulf © Francis Le Guen / OCEAN71 Magazine

    The pearl treasure of the Gulf

    Culture, Economy4 chapters

    Before the black gold made some families of the Arabian peninsula immensely wealthy, nomades settled down along the southern side of the Persian Gulf and risked their lives by fishing the earliest source of wealth in the region : pearls. Today, the practice has disappeared, but the Emirates still possess one of the most fabulous pearl’s treasure in the world. Here is an investigation on a well kept secret.

  • Hell in the Chagos heaven

    Ecology, Economy, Geopolitics5 chapters

    The Chagos archipelago. A name that sounds like the perfect place to spend the holidays. However, aside from the US army and a couple of privileged ones, the area is strictly forbidden. In one of the world well kept secrets, Great-Britain and the United States have conducted a large scale state scandal : 40 years ago, a small population of 2’000 people were simply forced to exile from their native land. To this day, they are still forbidden to return.

  • La base aquarius au large de la Floride

    Living underwater, dream or reality ?

    Culture, Ecology3 chapters

    In the 60s, a group of pioneers demonstrated that it was possible to live below the surface of the water. What remains of this technology today? Not much. Nonetheless, the dream hasn’t faded away. Regularly, various projects of underwater restaurants, hotels and museums are presented with computer animations. But not a single one of them sees the light of day. We investigated to unravel the reality behind the dream.