WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2018 15 mainly depends on wind and tidal effects and is estimated to be around three months. Lagoon function is highly dependent on contributions from the watershed, with nutrient inputs from the catchment basin mainly supplied from freshwater runoff and from human activities such as agriculture (mainly vineyards), industries and domestic wastewater. About 80,000 people live around the lagoon, half of whom live in Sète, whose population doubles during the summer. During the last decades, with water framework directives and Water Agency action, decreasing nutrient input from the watershed has long dominated management objectives for the Thau lagoon ecosystem. Today, the Thau lagoon is in the ecological restoration phase and about to reach the goal of being in good condition, as requested by Europe. For a long time, this trophic context resulted in high growth rates of shellfish. Indeed, one of the main economic activities of the Thau lagoon is shellfish farming. Other activities are artisanal fisheries (seabass, seabream, mullet, eel), tourism (sailing, thermal cures), fish farming (three sites for pre-growing of juveniles and on-growing are currently listed), land-based microalgae production (two sites) and engineering consulting firms. Concerning the shellfish sector, the Thau lagoon provides 10 percent of the total French Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas production (Robert et al. 2013). There are 500 companies currently listed, producing around 7,371 t of oysters and 2,959 t of mussels per year (census from Departmental direction of the territories and the Sea, DDTM 2017), providing direct employment for about 1,700 people (Denis Regler, Comité Régional Conchylicole de Méditerranée, personal communication). The Leucate lagoon is the second major production area of the region. Because of urban pressure, the catchment basin needs a permanent control of the water quality to ensure to quality of the products. The French institute for exploration of the sea (Ifremer) is one of the operators of monitoring networks for evaluation of environmental quality of water bodies (REPHY for microalgae in water, ROCCH for chemical contaminants, Water framework directive for ecological status of water bodies). Until 2018, the state’s devolved services (seaproduct and veterinary services) have charged the Herault Department to follow the sanitary quality of shellfish produced in classified areas. They operate the shellfish sampling and the Laboratoire Départemental Vétérinaire (LDV34) in Montpellier and Laboratoire Analyses (LDA13) in Marseille conducts microbiological analysis of shellfish and phycotoxins, respectively. The main actors of the regional aquaculture sector are the Occitanie Regional and Department governments, the French water agency, state agencies, private producers and companies, the research units Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservation (MARBEC) and Interactions Hôtes-Pathogènes-Environnements (IHPE). The Mixed Syndicate of Thau Bassin (SMBT) is in charge of coordination among different regional management plans: (CONTINUED ON PAGE 16) A specialty pink oyster from l’Huître Spéciale Tarbouriech in Thau Lagoon. Farmed rainbow trout. Photo: Yves Harache. Oyster racks in Prévost Pond, near Ifremer Palavas. Photo: Yves Harache. Raceways for trout production.
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