INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
favourite New Year's Eve ritual for French, but as winters get warmer and summers get drier many growers worry there will soon be fewer of
prized mollusks to go around."Twenty years ago, we'd be shivering in warehouse while preparing holiday orders
Today it's 15 degrees (60 Fahrenheit)," says Brittany oysterman Mathieu Le Moal, his sleeves rolled up in front of a tractor carrying dozens
of bulging oyster sacks."We don't have seasons anymore -- but oysters need all four," Le Moal adds
"They need winter, it's when they can rest, use less energy."Inside a wooden hanger redolent of salt and sea, around a dozen of his workers
are sorting, weighing and packing oysters into crates in Brittany port of Cancale.Le Moal and other farmers along this stretch of France's
Emerald Coast say long drought which struck swathes of country this summer took a heavy toll, leading to smaller harvests, and smaller
shellfish.Without summer rains that wash crucial minerals into oyster beds, "there's no plankton, main food for oysters, so they don't
grow," explained fellow oysterman Bertrand Racinne, weaving his way between baskets and stacked crates."In end, we have oysters but not
enough of big ones," said Racinne, who like most growers sells more than half his yearly production in December.Cold weather normally
encourages a needed rest for oysters to mature, said Yoann Thomas of France's IRD research institute.But this winter has so far been
unusually warm and, paradoxically, too rainy.Rains may bring minerals that favour plankton growth -- but they also mean mollusks spend too
much energy eating.This year's harvest are likely to start spring "fragile and vulnerable", warned Racinne."We've found that periods of
extreme mortality (more than 25 percent of oysters) come several months after mild and rainy winters," Thomas said.Germs thrive"Ten grams
fewer for each one, that makes a difference in sales," said Philippe Le Gal, president of CNC national shellfish producers' association.In
2017 roughly 4,500 oyster growers in France sold 100,000 tons, at an average price of 5,000 euros ($5,700) per ton."Oyster farmers will see
volumes down by 20 to 30 percent this year," Le Gal said
"Climate warming is starting to have an impact."Warmer water temperatures are also a risk because they facilitate spread of viruses that are
especially harmful to oyster larvae, or spat, and young oysters.Scientists point in particular to a Herpes virus, OsHV-1, that has been
present in French oyster waters since 1991 but has become more aggressive recently, for reasons still unknown.Since 2008, up to 75 percent
of young oysters have been lost in some years, said Fabrice Pernet at Ifremer ocean research institute in Brest."Oyster farmers had found a
solution by putting ten times amount of spat in water in autumn, when virus is not active," Pernet said.But warmer waters would reduce this
window of opportunity, he said, and new pathogens could arrive if carried north by fish and other sea life fleeing rising temperatures
further south.Adding to challenges, rising ocean acidity requires oysters to spend more energy in building their shells, Pernet said."Still
magnificent"Erratic and extreme weather conditions are likely to become more frequent unless aggressive steps are taken to limit climate
change caused by human activities, scientists warn."By 2035 abnormally high mortality episodes that currently occur every ten years risk
happening every two years," Pernet said.Not every oyster farmer is convinced, however, saying bigger risks are pollution, oyster beds that
are becoming too densely packed and increased use of genetically modified species."Mortality rates change every year, depending on region
but nobody can really explain why," said Alexandre Prod'homme, another grower in Cancale.But if warming and weather patterns become
increasingly volatile, French farmers might have to start changing their growing seasons or move their beds north or further out to sea,
Pernet said."Oysters aren't going to disappear but they're probably going to have to migrate," he predicted.For now, most growers say
they're going to wait and see."We're not sure about anything regarding impact of global warming, we're waiting for more scientific
research," said Daniel Coirier, president of shellfish association for Poitou-Charentes region."But even if they're not as big, our oysters
are still magnificent, and top quality!"(This story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a
