The period is favorable for thefts on oyster farms. The gendarmerie is watching and they want to let people know. Report, at night, near Mesquer, in the Guérande peninsula, in Loire-Atlantique.
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“We are flying over the entrance to Le Croisic, it is very calm.”
11:30 p.m. Mesquer. The message sent from the helicopter is received on the ground by Lieutenant Ludivine Guibout who commands the community of Guérande brigades. She is one of the twenty gendarmes who are mobilized that night to monitor the oyster farms of the Guérande peninsula.
“Here, she explains, showing her surroundings with her hand, there are oyster beds, there you have more shellfish farming. And in front, there is the helicopter. Asserac side. There is also a patrol that does surveillance. The helicopter with its searchlight more powerful than our lamps can direct us towards the people to be addressed.
“This is the period when delinquents derive maximum profit” Lieutenant-Colonel Lelong Departmental Gendarmerie.
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But there will be no interpellation tonight. As the soldier in the helicopter said, it’s very quiet. However, the period is favorable for oyster thefts. The shells are transported during the day to the drainpipes and basins until December 18. There may be thefts in parks. And then the oysters are packed. Thefts are then carried out in establishments.
“The goal, explains Lieutenant-Colonel Ronan Lelong, commander of the departmental gendarmerie of Saint-Nazaire, it is the search for the flagrante delicto. We will seek to arrest the perpetrators of the thefts on oyster beds and in buildings belonging to these operators. The second objective is to show that the gendarmerie protects these oysters. “
Of course, the helicopter will not be mobilized every day until the end of the year, but from time to time it can be heard flying over the area. We count on the deterrent effect. And the ground patrols will continue.
Jean-Luc Retailleau, oyster farmer, also makes rounds at night to monitor the ponds.
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“We also do surveillance, adds Jean-Luc Retailleau, operator and president of oyster farmers in the area. I come to Mesquer once or three times a night for a little walk. “
These surveillance operations have been carried out for about ten years, at the request of the profession, which made its biggest sales during this period.
“The flights are regular” notes Lieutenant-Colonel Lelong. Even if they are not all reported, oyster farmers can see that sometimes pockets of oysters disappear.
It even happens that it is other professionals who serve themselves at their neighbors.
►see the report
Monitoring of oyster farms
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