Rennes (AFP)

The contamination of certain shellfish by norovirus, responsible for gastroenteritis, has affected for several weeks the whole production, in particular oysters, a consequence of the pollution of the sea by waste water, which oyster farmers pay at a high price.

Philippe Le Gal, president of the national shellfish farming committee, would prefer not to talk about it. "We have around twenty shellfish farming basins closed in mainland France out of a total of 375 classified areas", open to the production of shellfish, he notes. But "talking about it is like adding fuel to the fire: even the uncontaminated areas are affected. Consumers buy less shellfish, while there is no problem for those on the market!"

According to the latest count from the Ministry of Agriculture which has promised to compensate professionals, 23 shellfish farming basins, producers of oysters, but also of mussels or meadows, are closed: from Normandy to Charente Maritime, and even in Mediterranean. In Hérault, garbage cans filled with oyster shells and mussels were dumped earlier this week in front of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) after a prefectural decision of January 10 to suspend the marketing of shellfish for part of the Thau basin.

Other sites were forced to close much earlier, during the holiday season. A big shortfall for producers. Thus, for Renan Henry, whose company has been established "for five generations" in the Crac'h river (Morbihan), near Auray, the end of year celebrations represent "60%" of its turnover business.

Received last week at the ministry which promised to compensate them, the oyster farmers are all the more upset that they are in no way responsible for what happens to them but pay a high price for this contamination.

- "Oysters are not sick" -

"Norovirus comes from humans. Oysters are not sick. They carry the virus because it is present in the water they filter - 4 liters / hour in winter, but 7 / h in summer - they are just in the wrong place at the wrong time ... ", says the president of the CNC.

For the oyster farmers, the heavy rains of the past few weeks have overloaded the failing sanitation networks and the treatment plants, causing wastewater to the sea which should have been treated upstream. Renan Henry thunders against what he sees as inadequacies in urban sanitation. "Until 2014, the community of communes allocated 10 million euros per year for sanitation. Since then, it has fallen to 4 million, a drop of 60%!"

"Viral contamination comes from the earth", abounds Thierry Burlot (PS), vice-president of the regional council, in charge of the environment. "It is an absolute necessity to act on sanitation (...) The region will have to come to support communities for their upgrading," said the elected official, for whom this pollution is also "the result of 'uncontrolled urbanization'.

What confirms the senator of Morbihan Joël Labbé (ex-EELV): "It was foreseeable, insofar as we continued to issue building permits when the installations (water treatment) were already saturated".

Because behind this contamination arose the question of tourism development, a card played thoroughly by the department of Morbihan. The president of the department, François Goulard (ex-LR), created the controversy by reproaching the oyster farmers to make a counter-advertisement to their territory by protesting against the pollution of which they are victims. "Let's not forget that we live on tourism here!", He said in Ouest-France.

"We are not against tourism and urbanization, but on condition that the networks are adapted", replies Renan Henry.

"We are sentinels from the coast and the environment", adds Philippe Le Gal, insisting: "We are victims and we must not suffer economic damage".

For the association Eau et Rivières de Bretagne, which has watched over the quality of water in the region for 50 years, "local elected officials are responsible for rainwater and sanitation. Shellfish farmers are right to hold them to account".

© 2020 AFP