| The yearly shellfish harvest on Thau lagoon (75 km2) is about 13 000 tons of oysters and 4 000 tons of mussels, and represents 10% of French shellfish harvest. In the microbiological monitoring network of French shellfish harvest areas, managed by Ifremer, a total of 2 374 shellfish samples were collected on Thau lagoon and analysed (Escherichia coli) on 9 sampling stations between 1997 and 2006. Despite a population increasing rate of 15.6% between 1999 and 2006 on the Thau lagoon watershed, the shellfish faecal contamination level is stable between 1997 and 2006, and corresponds to B sanitary standard, authorizing marketing for human consumption after purification. Though the microbiological quality of the lagoon’s shellfish can episodically be altered... |
