It is a major cleaning operation that is carried out at each low tide on the Tes bank (facing the port of Arcachon) these days. Objective: to remove tons of scrap metal and rocks from wild oysters that have grown outside the concessions.
A construction machine pushes the rocks of agglomerated oysters towards a boat equipped with a crane which recovers the waste to then bring it back to land. This project should have been carried out a long time ago, explains Olivier Laban, president of the Regional Shellfish Farming Committee.
Before 2018 there had never been a real public policy for the maintenance and rehabilitation of the maritime domain – Olivier Laban
Objective: rehabilitate 75% of the 1,000 hectares of oyster wasteland in the Basin within 10 years
Work began in 2018 on the Banc des Jacquets in Cap Ferret. They continued at Moussettes and now at Tes. 70 hectares of wasteland have been cleared but the oyster farmers supported by the SIBA (Syndicat intercommunal du Bassin d’Arcachon) want to move up a gear.
This rehabilitation of wasteland is carried out in partnership with the Syndicat Intercommunal du Bassin d’Arcachon. The objective is twofold, explains its director Aurélie Lecanu: “we rehabilitate the parks but we also restore the mudflats, essential to biodiversity”. Budget for this work for the period 2022-2023: 1.2 million euros, 80% financed by the State via the French Office for Biodiversity.