Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-000525/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Gilles Pennelle (PfE)
The mussel farming sector is under considerable threat. Spider crab predation on bouchot mussels is a disaster for coastal producers, who are seeing their work destroyed before their eyes.
In northern Brittany, several producers have gone bankrupt as a result. The 13 mussel farming companies in the Arguenon and Fresnay bays in the Côtes-d’Armor department have already had to lay off some 30 people.
This sector is emblematic of our food culture, thanks in particular to the protected designation of origin ‘Moules de bouchot de la baie du Mont Saint-Michel’, and is a valuable economic resource which provides a livelihood for our coastlines.
We need more than symbolic support. It is essential that spider crab predation is recognised and tackled, and that a genuine support plan is adopted to prevent this industry and profession, of which our regions are proud, from dying.
- 1.To save the mussel farming sector, can the Commission offer a genuine support plan to compensate the economic losses it is experiencing?
- 2.Will it do all it can to stop these spider crabs making it impossible to produce bouchot mussels?
Submitted: 5.2.2025