the ban on collecting fossils on Normandy beaches worries scientists

Will we still be able to collect fossils at the foot of the Norman cliffs? This is the question posed at the moment, with concern, by paleontologists, these specialists of the oldest times on our planet. The prefecture of Calvados plans to create, in the coming months, a nature reserve on the Jurassic cliffs of the department. And in this context, the collection of fossils would be prohibited, except in exceptional circumstances. First concerned: amateur paleontologists. But beyond that, the whole discipline is concerned.

And for scientists, this is inconceivable. Because for them, these cliffs have a historical, prehistoric, even, priceless value. Just take a walk on the beach at Villers-sur-Mer, near Deauville, to realize this. We are at the foot of the Vaches Noires, cliffs attacked by the wind and the sea, with Laurent Picot, paleontologist. Just look to see “fossil shells. For example, there is one here.”

Laurent Picot knows this site well, surveyed for nearly two centuries by enthusiasts, collectors, families, in search of objects dating back millions of years. “You have large pieces of limestone and in these pieces of limestone, here, for example, you have a small fossil scallop shell, at the end of my finger. At a glance, it has about 160 million years.”

“Without fans, we really can’t do anything”

Scallops, fossilized oysters, this is what amateur paleontologists find most easily on these beaches. Not to mention the ammonites, these twisted mollusk fossils that have become the emblem of the town of Villers-sur-Mer. “Fossils, explains Laurent Picot, they are rocks, animals transformed into rock if we define that very simply. Obviously, with the tide, it will move, it will collide with the pebbles and it will wear out very quickly. And after a while, it will become sand that will feed the beach.” The objective for paleontologists is therefore to collect these fossils before they are destroyed by the tides. Today anyone can do it. But soon it will be banned.

The project of the prefecture of Calvados is to create a nature reserve to protect the fauna and flora. 37 kilometers of cliffs would be concerned. That, the paleontologists are for. On the other hand, they are headwind against this ban on collecting fossils on the foreshore, on the beach. For the authorities who promise exemptions, it is a common sense measure. But for the opponents, it is science that is threatened.

Laurent Picot takes us to the Paléospace reserves, the paleontology museum of Villers-sur-Mer. “Here, we have the oldest collections, they are a century old.” When he is not on the beach, he is in charge of inventorying these thousands of fossils to make them available to scientists. “We have about 27,000 fossils in the reserves. Everything was found by enlightened amateurs. You see, the last donations: 2021. There are other more recent ones, for which we did not have the time to take inventory. It will be done.” Laurent Picot continues the tour of the pieces in the collection. “In the vertebrates, we will have fish, ichthyosaurs – marine reptiles. Here, it’s a bit our specialty: we have a lot of crocodiles and here, dinosaur vertebrae.” For him, the prohibition of picking up on the cliff is not in dispute. “She’s protected, we’re not going there, there’s no problem.” On the other hand, the ban on picking up on the foreshore does not pass. “This decision, for me, is anti-science. Without amateurs, we really can’t do anything.”

And for Paléospace director Karine Boutillier, the very survival of the museum is at stake. “No paleontologist was consulted in this project to put in place the ban on collecting fossils on the beach, does she regret. The argument is always: don’t worry, exemptions will be given … But we know very well that they will be very, very limited.

“It is clearly the assassination of paleontology in Normandy. It is a disaster for the museum of France that we are.”

Karine Boutillier

at franceinfo

The reserve project is progressing and the prefecture plans to have it in place by the end of the year. But the opponents remain mobilized. They have the support in particular of local elected officials, deputies and senators, who are asking for a meeting with the Minister for Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu. And a collective for the defense of Norman paleontology has been set up by an amateur paleontologist, Laurent Puglisi. “If we do the calculation only for the cliffs of the Vaches Noires, therefore only four and a half kilometers, we can determine that every year, 450,000 tonnes of sediment are found on the foreshore. And these 450,000 tons of sediments contain millions of fossils. If these fossils are not collected, they will be lost forever. They will be turned into dust.”