The Arcachon Basin Marine Natural Park is made up of elected officials, fishermen, oyster farmers and boaters and according to a majority of them, the state is seeking to put Arguin under cover.
The debate is not new, it has even been 5 years that two camps clash. On the one hand, Sepanso, the association that manages Arguin. It protects migratory birds and denounces the reserve’s overcrowding problems, especially in summer. On the other side of the sandbank, users: fishermen, oyster farmers, boaters. In recent years, the State has limited their access to Arguin and the discontent is heard far beyond the Dune of Pilat. In 2017 the integral protection zone, closed to humans, was extended.
We have lost 80% of our anchorage areas. We have nothing against birds but the ayatollahs of ecology are enough!
– Joël Confoulan, President of the Confederation of User Associations of the Arcachon Basin
State services have promised to extend consultation about the future management plan of Arguin but the opponents see nothing coming. Their fear today: that the Ministry of the Environment will discreetly take an order without taking into account their observations.