“excellent news” for the Arcachon-Aquitaine Regional Shellfish Farming Committee

The temporary ban on fishing and marketing of all shellfish from the Arcachon basin is lifted on Friday morning, the Gironde prefecture announced on Thursday.

“That’s excellent news”, rejoices Thursday January 18 on franceinfo Olivier Laban, president of the Arcachon-Aquitaine regional shellfish farming committee and oyster farmer in Gujan-Mestras. He reacts to the lifting of the temporary ban on fishing activity and the marketing of all shellfish from the Arcachon basin on Friday morning, announced by the Gironde prefecture.

“28 days of closure is a very long time in the life of a business”recalls Olivier Laban who is not worried about the future since, according to him, even if the holidays are over, “oysters are eaten 12 months out of 12”. He is still relieved by this announcement from the prefecture.

“We have the guarantee that our products are compliant, that the wave has passed. My colleagues were waiting to be able to work, that was what we wanted.”

Olivier Laban, president of the Arcachon-Aquitaine regional shellfish farming committee

on franceinfo

In this affair of contaminated oysters, the chairman of the committee recalls that the producers are “victims more than anything else” because “this is not linked to bad practices by producers”. “But we must accept it even if we regret it,” he said, adding: “We are dealing with a natural product, raised in an open environment, that’s part of the risks of the job.”

7 million euros shortfall

Concerning the possibility of such a scenario recurring, Olivier Laban is cautious and assures: there is no “no certainty” that it cannot happen again: “The problems we had were linked to malfunctions in the network which was overwhelmed by this heavy rainfall. If such precipitation returns, there could be a risk. I can’t say anything other than that.” However, he assures us “we will strengthen behind the controls” and adds: “Communities need to put resources and work into action and on the production side, we need to move forward with researchers to implement more effective purification processes to get through this type of episode.”.

Regarding losses, Olivier Laban speaks of “1,300 tonnes of oysters” not sold between December 27 and Thursday reopening date. These sales “would have generated a turnover of 7 million euros”. The loss for businesses “It’s really 5 million euros in gross margins. That’s what the oyster farmers have lost”. The temporary ban was ordered on December 27 after numerous cases of gastroenteritis attributed to the presence of norovirus in the water of breeding grounds.