The Charente-Maritime prefecture issued an order Tuesday evening prohibiting the marketing of oysters matured in clear (in a basin) in two areas of the Marennes-Oléron basin. This decision is made "due to pollution by noroviruses", the most common cause of gastroenteritis.
"This contamination being likely to involve a risk for the human health, the prefect took a decree prohibiting the maritime and professional fishing, the collecting, the transfer of shellfish of commercial size, the shipment and the marketing of all species of shell from "these two sectors, said the prefecture in a statement.
"We are sure of the presence of norovirus in two areas of the basin, in the municipalities of Chaillevette and La Tremblade", confirmed Daniel Coirier, president of the Regional Committee of shellfish farming of Poitou-Charentes (CRC), according to which this closure affects "90 companies".
The problem of "dirty water"
According to Laurent Chiron, president of the Marennes-Oléron quality group, "for the moment only oysters matured on land are concerned, not the parks at sea". "The neighboring production sectors (Editor's note: prohibited sectors) are subject to careful monitoring", assured the prefecture. For Annie Aubier, vice-president of CRC Poitou-Charentes, "it is humans who contaminate oysters by discharging contaminated water, and not vice versa".
Last week, several shellfish production basins were shut down in the Morbihan and Mont-Saint-Michel bay after oyster contamination with norovirus. And at the same time, the recalls of oysters sold have multiplied in recent days.
The CRC de Bretagne Sud also denounced pollution of coastal discharges and asked for an investigation into the origin of the contamination. Part of the Marennes-Oléron oysters, the first oyster basin in Europe, is refined in "clears", former converted salt marshes.
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These shallow basins conserve water at ebb tide. Exposed to the sun, they promote the development of phytoplankton which oysters are fond of, giving them a particular taste.