"800 kilos of ray egg capsules, this represents roughly the volume of an average garage", summarizes Jean-Baptiste Bonnin, coordinator of IODDE (Ile d'Oléron sustainable development environment).
Since 2009, this association has locally piloted the national participatory science program CapOeRa (ray egg capsules).
It consists of collecting these empty capsules, with a view to collecting information on the different species that inhabit the coast (breeding dates, predators).
A program that has revealed, for example, that twelve species are present around the island of Oléron, including the undulate ray, protected on a European scale.
Composed of keratin, these capsules wash up on the beaches once the ray embryos are sufficiently developed.
To collect them, many collection campaigns are organized, in which individuals can participate.
Five capsule bins have even been installed on the beaches of Saint-Georges-d'Oléron.
"We had a lot of contributions, there is a craze that we did not imagine at the start", confides the association manager.
As of January 5, 2022, a total of 697,372 capsules had been collected in this way!
Organic farmers on the island will test
But once studied, these capsules were no longer of much use.
“We knew that the composition of the capsules was comparable to crushed horn, used as a natural fertilizer in gardens.
We first tried to reduce it to dust with garden shredders, but the powder was not fine enough,” explains Jean-Baptiste Bonnin.
The IODDE employees then turned to the Ovive company, located in Périgny, near La Rochelle, known for grinding oyster shells in particular.
This one crushed 700 kilos of capsules, packaged in sachets of 500 grams.
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These sachets have been sold since December at the association's premises, located in La Brée-les-Bains, in two shops in Château-d'Oléron (Chez Machin, Les Saveurs du Marais) and in the Oléron tourist offices. .
“We sold around 100 kilos in a month and a half, it works well.
This natural fertilizer makes it possible to enrich a soil, it can be put in flowers, under the feet of tomatoes… Organic farmers on the island will test it in the spring.
For us, it's a virtuous circle because we are in a pure circular economy, with a material that returns to the cycle of life”, is satisfied with the coordinator of IODDE.
For more information:
http://iodde.org/cpie/actu/212094/Programme-CapOeRa
.
IODDE is part of the CPIE Marennes-Oléron (Permanent Center for Environmental Initiatives).
The CapOeRa program is led by APECS (Association for the study and conservation of selachians).
