Mussel growers in western France have called for emergency state aid as they face an “unprecedented” squeeze following a 90-per-cent plunge in production of the shellfish blamed on bad weather and pollution, reports The Telegraph.
With not nearly enough local supply to meet demand for the beloved delicacy, French restaurants are now being forced to rely on imports of Irish, Dutch and Italian moules to accompany their frites.
Producers in the Atlantic port of La Rochelle say the decline, which started six months ago, is catastrophic for the local economy. They have staged two protests in recent weeks, dumping piles of oyster shells and dead mussels outside the Préfecture to demand action over a crisis they attribute to seawater contamination.
“Normally we would collect five to seven tonnes of mussels a day at this time of year,” said Hugues Morin, a 46-year-old mussel producer. “Now we’re only getting about 100 grammes (3.5 ounces).” Mr Morin, who employs six workers, said he had collected “almost no mussels to sell this season” after producing 750 tonnes of the shellfish last year.
Mr Morin and other growers said they had never seen so few live adult mussels of a marketable size on the “bouchots” - wooden pilings in the sea with ropes wrapped around them where the mussels grow.
Scientists suggested that bacteria had killed most of the molluscs.
Read more of this report from The Telegraph.