Report Oyster farmers in the Arcachon basin, relieved by the end of the ban on the sale of oysters, point to wastewater management

The sale of Arcachon oysters is once again authorized. But the matter is not over: an investigation is opened after the filing of several complaints questioning the failures of the wastewater sanitation network.

Oyster lovers have reason to rejoice, they will once again be able to taste those from Arcachon. They had been subject to a sales ban since December 27 after cases of food poisoning linked to norovirus. The latest analysis results are satisfactory. The sales ban is therefore lifted on Friday January 19.

Kris loves Arcachon oysters but she is not going to rush to the market. “In my family, there were quite a few people affectedshe says. So we’re going to let time pass a little. I’m going to let the pond clean up a bit, the oysters and the fish. ” Therein lies the real harm for Thierry Lafon. In the middle of his traps and nets, the oyster farmer worries about the brand image of his oysters. “What we talk about the most is that we can’t sell and that there is financial loss, but that’s just the most visible consequenceunderlines Thierry Lafon. There is something much more detrimental, and that is the feeling that this will generate among consumers. Given what is advertised as a risk in consuming oysters, obviously, it’s a real love-killer.”

The wastewater network singled out

However, he had already sounded the alarm. In February 2021, there was a first episode of norovirus contamination with an identical scenario. “We are very clearly facing a problem of pollution from wastewater discharges, that is to say human excrement in the natural environmentexplains the oyster farmer. The causes of these discharges are a saturation of the network due to a problem with rainwater management.”

He therefore filed a complaint against Siba, the intercommunal union which manages the wastewater and rainwater network. The network is undersized, according to Jacques Storelli, president of the Arcachon Basin Environmental Coordination. For him, the contamination of oysters is indeed a symptom of galloping urbanization. “There is work to be done, but there is a paradigm shift to be made, that is to say taking nature into account rather than promoting tourism and concrete, he says. The environmental must definitely come before the economic.”

“It’s a reminder from nature that tells us one simple thing: ‘You’ve gone too far ! There are too many of you ! You don’t know how to organize yourself’ !”

Jacques Storelli, president of the Arcachon Basin Environmental Coordination

at franceinfo

Jacques Storelli also filed a complaint. The prosecution therefore opened an investigation for, in particular, ecocide, that is to say deliberate destruction of an ecosystem. No comment from Siba and its president, the mayor of Arcachon. The prefecture has estimated the investments necessary to improve the sanitation of the basin at 36 million euros. The State will provide 2.6 million euros, the rest to be financed in particular by the town halls of the basin.