The bacterium Escherichia coli strikes the Pas-de-Calais. The prefecture announced on Thursday the temporary ban on shellfish fishing in Authie Bay due to water contamination. It also ordered the recall of batches fished since April 6.
“Are temporarily prohibited professional and recreational shore fishing, collection, transfer, shipping, distribution, and marketing of group 2 burrowing shellfish” for consumption, including cockles, tellines, lavagnons or knives, details the prefect of Pas-de-Calais in a decree signed on Tuesday.
Risk to human health
Professional shore fishing remains possible “provided that the shellfish undergo, only in France, a sanitizing treatment in an approved workshop or relaying”, specifies the prefect.
The decree invokes an opinion issued on Tuesday by the Regional Health Agency (ARS), following the analysis of samples taken on April 6 and 13, and an alert from Ifremer (French Research Institute for exploitation of the sea) of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
The results “show bacterial contamination exceeding the threshold value of 4,600 E.coli in 100 grams of flesh and intervalvular fluid”, likely “to cause a risk to human health”. “The seawater pumped in the production area has been considered contaminated since April 6, 2023. Sampling is prohibited,” adds the prefecture.