|
A deadly virus has managed to kill half of France’s oysters this year. Oyster production has dropped by 30 per cent because of a very aggressive form of herpes.
The virus, Ostreid Herpesvirus 1, or OsHV-1, has been attacking shellfish farms for the past three seasons with mortality rates of 27 per cent to 90 per cent on France’s Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, according to a Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries alert this week.
France’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries believes the country will be able to restock its supply of Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) within four or five years.
French Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fishing, Bruno Le Maire is hoping genetic selection will work to make the Pacific oysters’ shells resistant to the disease that has been decimating populations since 2008.
Scientists from the French Research Institute for Exploration of the Sea (Ifremer) and other researchers have been selecting specific genetic strains to produce more robust and disease-resistant oysters. The results have not been impressive, however.
"We were able to reduce the mortality of young oysters, which was 70 per cent in some places," said the Directorate of Fisheries.
Maryline Maingam, a spokesperson for the country’s National Shellfish Committee, explained that French production of oysters dropped 38 per cent in 2010 to 80,000 tonnes as a result of a herpes outbreak.
OsHV-1 begins killing oysters once water temperatures rise above around 16 °C (61 °F).
Should people be 'stimulated' to eat white fish alternatives to cod?
