The promoters of the mussel-farming project defend their proposal

The project to farm mussels in deep waters in Omaha Beach had aroused strong opposition for several weeks. The newspaper evoked the hostility of local residents as well as many veterans and historians, petitions on the Internet and a mobilization around the public inquiry.

Pascal Guilbert, a fisherman since 1987, carried the file with Ludovic Robert. He believed that the project had been badly presented and regretted having become a rejected figure in Vierville. Settled in the region for about thirty years, he recalled that his grandmother had worked there as a baker after the landing.

He considered the location of the submerged pontoons particularly favorable. According to him, the waters were classified A, the absence of estuary, port or wastewater discharge limited the risk of pollution, and the pontoons protected from bad weather, especially north and northeast winds in winter.

Pascal Guilbert also claimed to want to preserve an area rich in young marine animals and endangered species. He accused some professional fishing boats of taking juvenile individuals by approaching the stranding limit, at 0.2 or 0.3 nautical miles. He distinguished his deep-water installation from a park visible from the shore: only a few additional buoys should, according to him, appear near the landmarks of the pontoons.

Finally, he attributed part of the opposition to private interests. He denounced fishing practices presented as pleasure but which would conceal, according to him, an illegal and untaxed commercial activity. He reproached some opponents for invoking the memory of soldiers to protect this trade and was surprised by the silence of several elected officials. These accusations are the arguments of the project leader reported by the cut.

Reconstructed or uncertain passages:
- The accusations of illegal fishing, the motivations given to the opponents and the environmental assessments are attributed to Pascal Guilbert; they are not presented as established facts. The attached plan remains an image: its coordinates and landmarks are not transcribed.

Archive image: https://vierville.cordelle.eu/Photos2008/2002-MoulieresdemandeursAvril2002.jpg