Two weeks after the contamination of the Pirou Sud and Agon-Coutainville Nord production areas, the Prefect of the Channel now prohibits the fishing and marketing of any shellfish from Gouville-sur-Mer and Blainville-sur-Mer.
The Prefect of La Manche published a decree prohibiting “recreational or professional fishing”, as well as “the collection, transfer, shipment and marketing of any shellfish from Gouville-sur-Mer and Blainville-sur-Mer “, where cases of poisoning have been detected. 17 people, out of the 165 exposed, suffered from gastric disorders after consuming shellfish from these two production areas.
“The products shipped since February 3, 2018 from the Gouville – Blainville area will be withdrawn from sale and recalled by the producers, with a view to their destruction, states the prefecture. The results of the analyzes carried out by the National Reference Laboratory (LBN) ‘Shellfish Microbiology’ shows norovirus contamination of the cupped oysters collected on February 15 in the areas considered “.
A stop for the local economy
“We are thinking of professionals who are hard hit economically. We are extremely angry because we produce quality oysters that others come to soil”, explains Ouest France Thierry Hélie, new president of the regional committee for shellfish farming in Normandy-Mer du North. This indefinite ban is a distressing situation for the economy of the region. The Blainville-Gouville production area remains the most important breeding site in the department.
According to study on the natural deposits of bivalve molluscs in Lower Normandy (LASPOUGEAS, 2007), “about 3000 fishermen on foot could frequent the area over a full tide of 2/3 days” and “5 to 9 tonnes of clams could thus be taken from one year by boaters on foot in this sector “. This ban follows the one introduced in the production areas of Pirou Sud and Agon-Coutainville Nord on February 9. It has since been lifted.
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