France fights oyster gangs at sea, on the beaches and from the air
and in Paris
FRANCE has deployed drones, helicopters, boat patrols equipped with night vision goggles and Republican Guards on horseback to foil oyster rustlers intent on stealing tons of the prized shellfish in the run-up to New Year’s Eve.
Oysters are a festive delicacy in France and the Christmas and New Year holidays account for half of farmers’ annual business. The French usually eat them raw with lemon juice or shallot-infused vinegar, washed down with a glass of white wine.
However, two oyster “plagues” which wiped out up to 90 per cent of the salty seafood in 2008 and 2011 have left prices high and numbers scarce, which has led to a rise in thefts.
The first raiders struck in October, when a producer from Gujan-Mestras in Arcachon Bay, lost seven tons of the delicacy – three years’ work – in just one night.
“We hadn’t seen that in more than 10 years here. It’s unheard of this early,” said sergeant chief Thierry Deuet.
The thieves are more often than not fellow farmers, previous convictions suggest. The problem, said Mr Deuet, was that “there is a certain law of silence among sea farmers, who are rough, tough and taciturn”.
In Gujan-Mestras, police said it was clearly a professional hit. “To haul that quantity you need to know what you’re doing, to have the right material and a network to sell off the produce, estimated to be worth €40,000 (£35,000),” Laurent Chevallier, chief warrant officer, told Sud Ouest newspaper.
To help foil more thefts, night-time infrared helicopter patrols were launched. The authorities have also reactivated a 19th century decree to appoint 15 local farmers as gardes-jurés – informants hidden among colleagues. “They keep watch in the sector and pass on any information that seems suspect,” Mr Chevallier said. This year, gendarmes also have a new weapon in the fight against rustling: drones. “The drone operates with total discretion and serves to rapidly remove doubt,” said Mr Chevallier.
Further up the western coast, almost 20 tons of oysters have been reported stolen from the Marennes basin and Île
‘There is certain law of silence among the sea farmers, who are rough, tough and taciturn’
d’Oléron in Charente-Maritime. Thieves recently took seven tons from one farmer, Eric Portier of Hiers-Brouage who had oyster beds in the open sea, while last week 800kg were stolen from a farm off Île De Ré.
“They took my best rows and oyster sizes that we had in short supply this season,” Mr Portier told Le Parisien, saying the loss amounted to €35,000. Two other local farmers, Philippe and Dominique Favier, were robbed of 100 crates of their coveted pousses en claire, which can sell for €10 per oyster in top restaurants.
Making matters worse, insurance companies will not cover oyster farmers for losses because of the high risk. Natalie Brochard, an oyster farmer in Nieul-sur-Mer, south-western France, told The Sunday Telegraph: “If you have a bad year you can lose everything.”
With 50,000 tons reared per year, the Charente-Maritime region accounts for almost half of national output.
“Fighting the thefts is very complicated,” Christophe Laferrière, chief warrant officer at the port of La Tremblade said. “There’s nothing to distinguish an oyster’s origin; nothing in the farm set-up to show everyone is in their own territory and all the oyster sacks look the same.”
Some farmers believe technology may help. A start-up in western France has developed a fake oyster fitted with a GPS tracker. Thieves carry off the realistic-looking plastic “oyster”, along with the real ones, and their location can then be traced. With a turnover of nearly £2million the start-up is profitable but police would not be drawn on whether it has led to any arrests yet.