First responses after the crisis? The oyster farmers of the Arcachon basin will meet this Friday at 11 a.m. in the prefecture of Gironde, after the ban on the sale and consumption of their shellfish, which fell on Wednesday December 27, just before New Year’s Day. Analyzes had in fact revealed the presence of norovirus in farms, just after the first cases of “collective food poisoning” (Tiac), which continued over the following days.
“In these specific cases of Tiac, the ban on the sale and consumption of the products concerned runs for a period of twenty-eight days, provided that there are no new cases of intoxication,” specifies 20 minutes the prefecture of Gironde. The oyster farmers, who for the most part understand this sales ban measure taken by the authorities, nevertheless consider themselves also victims of the situation, and will demand compensation. They estimate their losses at around eight million euros and plan to file a complaint if they are not partially compensated.
“We are going to need compensation to restart the machine”
On Wednesday, Renaissance Minister Delegate for Public Accounts Thomas Cazenave, ex-candidate for municipal elections in Bordeaux, indicated that he had “asked the DGFiP [Direction générale des finances publiques]to Urssaf and to the MSA [Mutualité sociale agricole] particular kindness towards affected oyster farmers, in particular by granting payment deadlines for tax and social security deadlines. »
“Insufficient”, gets annoyed with 20 minutes Christian Galinier, oyster farmer for thirty-seven years in the basin, and manager of Huîtres Galinette in Gujan-Mestras. He is asking for “exemptions, not deferrals” and stressing that he has lost “a third” of his turnover with this sales ban. This proposal from the minister goes “in the right direction”, believes Christophe Lafond, oyster farmer and manager of La cabin à Pinpin, in La Teste-de-Buch. “But we will also need help,” he adds immediately. Why not an exemption from state royalties, he suggests, because we are going to need compensation which will allow us to restart the machine. »
“All this will be the subject of discussions on Friday, we are told at the prefecture, because oyster farmers have rights in terms of partial unemployment in particular, but other measures could be taken, perhaps even at national level. »
Loaded with contaminants, runoff water flowed into the basin
Arcachon oyster farmers point out that norovirus is not “naturally” present in seawater, and that they are not responsible for its development in the waters of the basin last December. “The presence of norovirus in aquaculture molluscs such as oysters is not linked to the products themselves, but to the quality of the sea water in which they are raised,” confirms the State Secretariat in charge of the sea.
But what happened to cause this norovirus to develop like this? It is the heavy rains of the last quarter of 2023 which are to blame. “To understand what happened, we must bear in mind that the waters flow over an area of more than 4,000 km2, which goes as far as the Médoc or the Landes, before ending their course in the Arcachon basin”, explains to 20 minutes the director of Siba (Intercommunal union of the Arcachon basin) Sabine Jeandenand. “In comparison, the surface area of the twelve communes of Siba represents only 900 km2,” she continues. Usually, the drop of water that falls in the Médoc remains in its territory, but when we have accumulations of rain as we have experienced, and which reach in a few weeks the annual rainfall, that is to say more than 700 mm, the same drop of water will continue its course using ditches, watercourses, and taking on all the contaminants it encounters, including noroviruses. And at the end, it ends its course in the Arcachon basin. »
Regularly singled out, the sanitation network of the Arcachon basin also played a role, but not for questions of “undersizing. » “The rainwater that runs off also ends up entering the wastewater collection network, and with the increase in flooding, it ends up coming out, loaded with contaminants. » On the other hand, “the wastewater treatment plants are not overflowing, contrary to what we may hear”, insists Sabine Jeandenand. “The problem is that the wastewater collection network is not designed to transport runoff water. »
The Arcachon basin was not, however, the only contaminated area in France, since two very limited sectors of Calvados and Manche were also affected. “This represents barely 10% of contaminated areas in France” compared to the entire national production, Philippe Le Gal, president of the National Shellfish Farming Federation, tried to reassure last Sunday.
“In the end we will have a magnificent product”
Because the profession fears a crisis of confidence and consumer disaffection. Particularly in Arcachon. “Today the damage is done, but what will happen after the ban is lifted? », asks Christophe Lafond. “I have big doubts about the restart of consumption, because it will take time to regain consumer confidence,” he continues. I think this will involve a major communication campaign. » Same fears for Christian Galinier. “Customers have been sick and it will take some time before consumption restarts,” he says. We’re going to have to re-explain that none of this is our doing. »
New Year’s sales would have represented some 800 tonnes of oysters, which were partly returned to the parks and which will ultimately be sold well, once the water quality is restored. “For my part, I have around fifty tonnes which had to be returned to the concession,” explains Christophe Lafond. We wait for them to be “decontaminated”, a process which will happen naturally, before putting them back on the market. And in the end we will have a magnificent product, since we are giving it time, which will give it exceptional quality from March onwards. But in the meantime, this takes up space in our parks, and this generates mortality on the oysters that remain…”
Oyster farmers point out that oyster farming is a long process which can take up to four years, and that it is subject to “various natural hazards”.