300
the main events, and changes which the sector
went through. We shall use the available information to set up a typology of the threats and corresponding adaptations developed by the sector.
We shall fi nally introduce a new framework, the
socio-ecosystem of oyster farming, as a more
pertinent concept for analyzing the capacity of
adaptation for oyster farming. In the last part, we
shall come to the notion of resilience and present
some proposals regarding how it can apply to
oyster farming and why some elements would
require further research.
2
History: Main Trends
and Events in the Oyster
Farming Production Over
a Century
Historically, in France oyster farming has been
developing in the 1850s when new facilities like
rail transportation (bringing oysters to cities and
routing fi rst tourists to the coast) created a
growing consumer demand that could not be met
anymore by harvesting market-size oysters from
the wild. The starting point was the invention of
spat collector for native fl at oyster Ostrea edulis ,
by Davaine ( 1853 ) and Coste ( 1866 ) in the fi rst
marine biology laboratories.
The history of French oyster appears as a succession of dramatic development of production
and collapses, which causes have been identifi ed
or not, and that led to several changes of species
chosen and cultured. Figure 1 describes the variations in production volumes, the main biological
causes identifi ed, and the adaptations that have
been put in place to allow the continuation of the
activity despite several crises.
For the native fl at oyster Ostrea edulis , the
production curve shows fl uctuations and points
out the two mass mortality periods: one starting
on 1920 and one starting in the 1970s, due to
parasitic diseases marteiliosis and bonamiosis
that led almost to an extinction of farming of fl at
2nd WW
1920 Mass mortality
Marteilia Bonamia
No spat
collection
Low spat
collection(TBT)
1852: mastery of
spat collection
1866 Oyster
import from Portugal
1923 Developing
Portuguese
oyster farming
1955-1970 Growth
defects => imports
of oysters from
Portugal
1965 First batch
of seed imported
from Japan
1971 RESUR
operation :
introduction of
Japanese oyster
2008 Mass
mortality of
spat
2013 Mass
mortality of adults
Diseases and
eradication
(70-73)
7
Crassostrea angulata
Crassostrea gigas
Ostrea edulis
Fig. 1 Production of oyster culture in France (tonnes) and main changes (After IFREMER data)
C. Mariojouls and J. Prou
the main events, and changes which the sector
went through. We shall use the available information to set up a typology of the threats and corresponding adaptations developed by the sector.
We shall fi nally introduce a new framework, the
socio-ecosystem of oyster farming, as a more
pertinent concept for analyzing the capacity of
adaptation for oyster farming. In the last part, we
shall come to the notion of resilience and present
some proposals regarding how it can apply to
oyster farming and why some elements would
require further research.
2
History: Main Trends
and Events in the Oyster
Farming Production Over
a Century
Historically, in France oyster farming has been
developing in the 1850s when new facilities like
rail transportation (bringing oysters to cities and
routing fi rst tourists to the coast) created a
growing consumer demand that could not be met
anymore by harvesting market-size oysters from
the wild. The starting point was the invention of
spat collector for native fl at oyster Ostrea edulis ,
by Davaine ( 1853 ) and Coste ( 1866 ) in the fi rst
marine biology laboratories.
The history of French oyster appears as a succession of dramatic development of production
and collapses, which causes have been identifi ed
or not, and that led to several changes of species
chosen and cultured. Figure 1 describes the variations in production volumes, the main biological
causes identifi ed, and the adaptations that have
been put in place to allow the continuation of the
activity despite several crises.
For the native fl at oyster Ostrea edulis , the
production curve shows fl uctuations and points
out the two mass mortality periods: one starting
on 1920 and one starting in the 1970s, due to
parasitic diseases marteiliosis and bonamiosis
that led almost to an extinction of farming of fl at
2nd WW
1920 Mass mortality
Marteilia Bonamia
No spat
collection
Low spat
collection(TBT)
1852: mastery of
spat collection
1866 Oyster
import from Portugal
1923 Developing
Portuguese
oyster farming
1955-1970 Growth
defects => imports
of oysters from
Portugal
1965 First batch
of seed imported
from Japan
1971 RESUR
operation :
introduction of
Japanese oyster
2008 Mass
mortality of
spat
2013 Mass
mortality of adults
Diseases and
eradication
(70-73)
7
Crassostrea angulata
Crassostrea gigas
Ostrea edulis
Fig. 1 Production of oyster culture in France (tonnes) and main changes (After IFREMER data)
C. Mariojouls and J. Prou