12 MARCH 2018 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG marine species, although production of marketsize marine fish was just 4,567 t in 2015. France currently contributes about 17 percent of total EU aquaculture volume and value. Shellfish Production Total shellfish production in 2015-2016 was 216,917 t, with 125,151 t of cupped oyster Crassostrea gigas and 87,894 t of stake-grown mussels (bouchot). Some 55 percent of oyster production is consumed over the Christmas and New Year holiday periods. Production fluctuates each year from mortality events (juveniles and adults) that regularly affect the sector. Since 2008, massive mortality events of cupped oysters have been reported in almost all farming areas in France (Miossec et al. 2009, European Food Safety Authority 2010, Martenot et al. 2011, Pernet et al. 2012, Pernet et al. 2016). These epidemiological events are associated with infection of oysters with a newly described genotype (µVar) of Ostreid herpesvirus 1 (Segarra et al. 2010) that has expanded along the The upcoming AQUA 2018 event #We R Aquaculture, co-organised by EAS and WAS, will take place in Occitanie. This is the name given to one of the new ‘super regions’ of France, created in 2016 from the former regions of Languedoc-Roussillon and MidiPyrénées. Occitanie comes from the historical name of the broader region of southern France and the historic use of the Occitan language and its various dialects. Its aquaculture activities cover the production of marine and freshwater fish and shellfish cultivated in the Thau lagoon, a special focus of this article. The region also produces Spirulina and more recently other microalgae and macroalgae. Overall, France is one of Europe’s biggest aquaculture producers, with 262,012 t of production in 2015. The country has a long tradition of shellfish (216,917 t in 2015) and fish production (45,095 t in 2015). It was also the location of one of the precursors of the marine production sector, developing hatchery techniques for Aquaculture in Occitanie, France Alistair Lane, Béatrice Chatain and Emmanuelle Roque d’Orbcastel Suspended pearl-net rearing structures beneath a support rack. The super-region of Occitanie in southern France. Montpellier is indicated by the green dot.
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