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“The oyster is a fixed animal but it can be moved by humans, depending on its development stage, to obtain a particular growth rate or taste. During its life cycle, in France, an oyster may be moved three or four times. At these times, there are a lot of movements, of transfers, that can favor diseases propagation. I worked in a research project which consisted in describing those movements, to try to identify the places where oysters stay longer and would be at higher risk and thus should be monitored to detect new diseases. At Ifremer, I am veterinary epidemiologist, I work on shellfish diseases. We try to understand shellfish mortality phenomena. I participate in the development of of shellfish health monitoring. The main issue is to avoid the introduction or the emergence of new diseases, as it occurred in 2008.

The land registry for shellfish farming takes a census of the marine lots leased to shellfish farmers and some of their characteristics.. Leasing grounds are consistently placed with regard to marine currents, to avoid silting up of the estuary basin. In general, oysters are farmed in estuaries because they need a mixture of freshwater and seawater to grow. Oyster farming is relatively new, it has almost replaced the fishing activity. There have been large trends towards industrialization, with hard marketing pressure on the product associated with its nature because we eat it fresh, even alive. In contradistinction, there are fervent defenders of traditions who try to work as their grandparents did, with quality oysters, taking time to allow them to grow. They consider themselves as gardeners of the sea, stakeholders of the marine landscape and foreshore life.”

Coralie Lupo
Veterinary epidemiologist, Ifremer

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