The Marennes-Oléron basin is located in an area of 11.5 square miles (30 km²) between the Gironde estuaries, the Charente, and Oléron Island. It is Europe's leading oyster production center, with 2,500 hectares of oyster beds. The oysters produced there are particularly valued because they are matured in claires (shallow clay ponds). They are the only oysters to have a PGI (Protected Geographical Indication). This production characterizes the landscape, buildings, and culture of the Atlantic coasts.
Fort Royer, an iconic natural site
At the heart of the Moëze-Oléron natural reserve on Oléron Island, the village of Fort Royer preserves ancestral oyster farming knowledge, between basins for maturing, mudflats, and the ocean. Oysters from Marennes-Oléron have been enjoyed raw or cooked since the Middle Ages, to the delight of French kings, including: Francis I, Henry IV, Louis XIV, and, of course, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, who loved them. These oysters were also favored by the tribunes during the French Revolution, who ate them to recover their strength after oratory battles. However, from that era until the 19th century, the oysters were cooked simply. Oyster farming as we know it today began during the Second Empire.
Chenal du site de Fort-RoyerFondation du patrimoine
The first flat oyster farms began when people placed piles of stones in the ocean, allowing oysters to attach to them. This is how the first Marennes-Oléron oysters were born. But this flat oyster disappeared during the 1920s following a bacteria outbreak.
Outils ostréicoles sur le site de Fort-RoyerFondation du patrimoine
During that time, a second type of oyster, called the Portuguese, appeared in the basin: a cargo of these oysters, bound for the Arcachon basin, ran aground in the Gironde estuary in 1868, colonizing the whole Atlantic coast up to the Vendée.
This more hollow and thus meatier oyster started the Marennes-Oléron cultivation.
The Portuguese oysters died out in turn during the 1970s. With help from the State, they were replaced by Gigas Pacific oysters, this time from Japan.
It takes four years to raise an oyster.
The production cycle begins in summer, when the oysters release hundreds of millions of seeds in water above 64.4°F.
The spawn will settle on a variety of materials that are placed in their path: traditionally tiles, then slate stakes, or today, metal stakes or plastic discs.
Outils ostréicoles sur le site de Fort-RoyerFondation du patrimoine
After they spend one year on collected material, oysters reach the size of a quarter. They are left there for two years.
Once they are collected, women separate the oysters with a shucking machine, before putting them into bags and bringing them back to the sea so they can continue growing.
They change the bags several times to reach the desired size and weight. On average, oysters are handled 40 times before being sold.
Huîtres sur une tableFondation du patrimoine
The most commonly sold oysters are size N°3, which must contain between 2.2 to 3 ounces (66 and 85 g) of flesh. N°5 oysters must contain between 1 to 1.5 ounces (30 and 45 g), and N°1 has over 5 ounces (150 g)!
Bassins d'affinage en claire à Fort-RoyerFondation du patrimoine
Once the desired size is reached, the oysters are matured in beds, called claires.
Over time, these old salt marshes were transformed into plankton fields, creating a feast for the oysters placed there.
They fill and empty out based on the tides, to maintain the necessary water temperature, oxygenation, and salinity to properly develop the phytoplankton. In particular, blue microalgae grows there, which, when combined with the oysters' yellow flesh, gives them their famous green color.
Bassins d'affinage en claire à Fort-RoyerFondation du patrimoine
The beds are never completely emptied while the oysters are being matured.
However, the beds are drained in the summer to improve the quality of the bottom silt.
The microfauna that normally lives there dies and decomposes, becoming natural fertilizer for the plankton.
Bassins d'affinage en claire à Fort-RoyerFondation du patrimoine
In one hour, a medium-sized oyster filters 1 to 2 gallons (5 to 7 l) of seawater, feeding on all available plankton.
Fines de claire oysters are placed in the claires for one month, with 20 oysters per square foot.
Spéciales de claire oysters are left for two to three months, with 10 oysters per square foot.
Huîtres en clairesFondation du patrimoine
After maturing, oysters are finally put in beds of very clean seawater for two days, so that they can reject all the mud they have accumulated.
Cabanes ostréicoles sur le site de Fort-RoyerFondation du patrimoine
Huts, which are integral to the charm of oyster farming landscapes, are the domain of women, who detach (separate) and sort the oysters.
Flooded during every high tide, they are rarely connected to electricity.
Cabanes et bateau ostréicoles sur le site de Fort-RoyerFondation du patrimoine
Like the huts, flat barges are emblematic of oyster farming. They allow boats to land as close as possible to the oyster beds and place a large number of oyster bags without having to pass them over the hull.
Cap Sud-Ouest - Fort RoyerFondation du patrimoine
Watch a video showing the oyster farmers' working conditions in the Marennes-Oléron basin beds, and find out why they are nicknamed "chu vasoutes"...!
The Château-d'Oléron: an oyster port and its shipyard
Protected by the Vauban fortress, Château-d'Oléron's oyster port is typical of the island, with its colorful warehouses. Although many of the huts have been converted to artisans' galleries or workshops today, some maritime activities persist.
Chantier naval Robert LégliseFondation du patrimoine
The Robert Léglise shipyard, in the port of Château-d'Oléron, was founded in 1890 by a family of ship builders from the Arcachon basin.
Since 1994, it has hosted an association that took the lead in bringing this knowledge alive and promoting it to the public.
Chantier naval Robert LégliseFondation du patrimoine
The association's buildings have a museum portion, where historic boats and numerous objects are exhibited to help tell the story of Oléron Island's maritime history and traditional fishing and shellfish farming practices.
Restauration de La Sociale par le chantier naval Robert LégliseFondation du patrimoine
Another portion is a workshop used to work on boats.
There, the Sociale has been gradually restored by the association's members.
This boat from 1925 has been listed as a Historic Monument. It was used for oyster farming and fishing and operated with sails and a motor.
Bateau Notre-Dame-de-La-Clarté restauré par le chantier naval Robert LégliseFondation du patrimoine
Notre-Dame de Clarté is a mussel farming sloop from 1955, built by the Durand shipyard in Marans, a town on the Aiguillon Bay across from Oléron Island.
Disused for 10 years, it was restored by the association before being listed as a Historic Monument in 2012.
Bateaux restaurés par le chantier naval Robert LégliseFondation du patrimoine
The association has restored numerous other boats, now moored in the port of Château-d'Oléron.
Its members also provide navigation training for these traditional boats, which are different from modern boats.
La Flèche: a Seudre-et-Mer association salvage
A traditional wooden cutter, La Flèche started life in 1954 at the Bernard brothers shipyard in La Tremblade, across from Oléron Island's southern tip. For many years, it was used for oyster and fish farming around Oléron Island. Abandoned during the 1980s, it was salvaged in 1992 by the Seudre-et-Mer association, located in Mornac. La Flèche underwent its first restoration and was re-rigged in order to start a second life in the association.
Jean Fayolle Président de l'association Seudre-et-MerFondation du patrimoine
For 15 years, La Flèche helped members of the association raise the public's awareness of the Seudre's special natural environment, as well as its history and traditional industry.
In 2019, Jean Fayolle, president of the association, wanted to give the cutter a new full restoration, with the support of the Fondation du Patrimoine (French Heritage Foundation).
Patrice Boyer Vice-Président de l'association Seudre-et-MerFondation du patrimoine
Sails, a cover for the mainsail and an awning for the fore and aft decks, have been restored to the boat.
The hull and front bow, as well as the fore and aft spars, have been repaired, as Patrice Boyer, vice president of the Seudre-et-Mer association, shows here.
Membres de l'association Seudre-et-MerFondation du patrimoine
La Flèche was then able to resume navigation on the Seudre, to the great pleasure of the association's members and all lovers of old sailboats.
Rencontre avec Patrice Boyer et Jean Fayolle - Restauration du voilier La FlècheFondation du patrimoine
Meet Jean Fayolle and Patrice Boyer from the Seudre-et-Mer association in this video, to find out more about La Flèche.
Our thanks to Jean Fayolle and Patrice Boyer from the Seudre-et-Mer association; Evelyne Morgat from the Fort Royer Oyster Farming and Natural Site association; and Jean Augé from the Robert Léglise Shipyard association; as well as to Charentes Tourism and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Tourism Committee for their invaluable help in creating this content.
To support the restoration of La Flèche click this link : https://www.fondation-patrimoine.org/les-projets/le-voilier-la-fleche
