Shellfish Farming In France

Shellfish Farming In France

The French are world leaders in the cultivation of shellfish, and the sea around here is just teeming with life - they've even set up shellfish farms on the Atlantic coast. On a recent visit to my friends' place out there, I saw some of these underwater farms in operation, and was particularly struck by the mussel farms. 

The French love their mussels mariniere - cooked in white wine, shallots and parsley - it's the most popular shellfish dish there. It is said that this delicious bivalve mollusc has been cultivated for food since Roman times. But to be honest it was only recently that I started to become aware of them, and I had never given any thought to how they come to be so plentiful on our plates.

Last week I went to visit a mussel farm in the Bay of Arcachon at Lege-Cap-Ferret, near Bordeaux. My host was Jean-Claude Brugos of L'Ecole Nationale d'Aquaculture de Bassin d'Arcachon (a mouthful which translates as 'The National School of Aquaculture of Arcachon Bay'). The school has a practical purpose: to

Shellfish farming has been practiced in shellfish producing countries since the late 19th century. In France, oyster farming was practiced in the Etang de Thau (Languedoc-Roussillon) as early as 1820 and its production reached 50 000 tonnes in 1930. The industry faced a significant decline due to diseases and competition from Asian production. However, since the 1980s, shellfish aquaculture is experiencing an upturn thanks to increased consumer demand, a scarcity of wild resources and technological advances (seed production).