Aspects economiques de la gestion des bassins conchylicoles

The biologists have presented the conclusions of their study. Some work on identifying the causes of the difficulties that the profession is experiencing (death rates, lengthening of growth cycles, epizootics, contamination...). Others are aiming to open up new prospects to the profession through management of shellfish stocks, genetic research and/or diversification of the farms. Each of these aspects is manifested by economic (costs, income, profitability ...) and social (employment, hours of work ...) consequences across the profession and the local economy. It is these consequences that we want to evaluate. To do that, the objectives of the "Socio-economic studies in shellfish farming" programme are to define the factors making it possible to create: 1) an assessment of the sector's "economic health" covering all shellfish-farming tanks, and 2) an evaluation of the economic and social impact of collective actions meant to improve production and marketing conditions. Our work is based on a general report of the trends that affect shellfish farming and a theoretical analysis for giving it direction.