French oyster farmers are looking at some desolate times ahead, as production dropped to 60,000 to 70,000 metric tons from previously 120,000 metric tons, Bruno Guillaumie, who heads European affairs for France’s shellfish farming organization Comite National de la Conchyliculture (CNC), told IntraFish.
"We have a decrease of production of about 50 percent," he said, and mortalities are expected to continue into this summer.
While the herpes virus continues to plague producers, other bacterial vibrio and environmental impacts such as polluted waters are also cause for "the drastic reduction" in production.
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