The harvesting and marketing of oysters, mussels and clams of the basin have been prohibited since December 30, 2022 due to the presence of a norovirus. The producers’ union calls into question the state of the water sanitation network in the city of Sète.
by Philippe Gagnebet (Toulouse, correspondent)
More than a century after their large -scale installation in the Thau pond, the hundreds of parks and oyster tables are stopped in the Hérault lagoon. In question, the concentration of a norovirus (gastroenteritis virus) which brought the prefecture of Hérault to suspend, since December 30, 2022, the harvest and marketing of oysters, but also mussels and clams in from the pond, which faces the city of Sète.
This preventive health prohibition is recurrent but, this time, the 500 conchyliculturers concerned decided to seize justice. According to Patrice Lafont, President of the Mediterranean Conchylism Syndicate, “the end of year celebrations represent 40 % of our annual turnover and New Year’s Eve more than 13 % alone. We estimate the losses to About 7 million euros currently “.
After an emergency meeting organized by the prefecture, which was held in Mèze on January 11, the union decided to file a complaint against the agglomeration of Sète, as well as to file a complaint against X, for ” to the environment on the basis of articles L.216-6 and L.432-2, concerning the offense of water pollution “. A first in the Mediterranean, after other actions of this type carried out in the English Channel or the Morbihan.
According to the union, “despite the construction and rehabilitation of treatment plants in the municipalities bordering the pond, the wastewater discharges combined with warming water promote the development of viruses”, specifies M . Lafont.
“anger is great”
of human origin, the proliferation of norovirus may therefore not enter into the framework of agricultural calamity. For the regional advisor Sébastien Denaja (PS), “anger is great because the conchylists work in the rules and their products are healthy. We must act on the environment, even if it turns out to be complex”.
François Commeinhes, the mayor (LR) of Sète, also president of Sète Aggopôle Mediterranean, says he is “aware of the problem” and specifies that the community “has done huge work to improve the sanitation system with more than 247 million euros invested “. The mayor believes that the excessive concentration of norovirus comes from episodes of heavy rains in the fall and dismisses the idea of over-urbanization, or sub-team.
complex to be treated
The community specifies that “several municipalities will be connected to the new Sète treatment plant, operational since September 2022, which will provide additional security for events of this type”. At the agglomeration, it is emphasized, however, that norovirus remains complex to be treated, because it remains present in water even after treatment. “The track to favor for this particular case is screening in the rejected waters of the presence of norovirus”, estimates Mr. Commeinhes.
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