Protecting the environment

ASC Certification

Deeply committed to sustainable oyster farming and to preservation of the environment in general, France Naissain got ASC certified in March 2020. This certification comes as a result of our socially and environmentally responsible actions.

ASC standards for aquaculture farms have been established by over 2000 aquaculture sector players from all over the world. They cover some major principles and actions that aim to limit environmental and social impacts of aquaculture:

- From the environmental point of view, aquaculture farms strive to reduce their impact on the environment. This implies a wise management of natural resources and their sanitary state preservation.

- From the social point of view, aquaculture farms are required to carry out their activities in a socially responsible manner, providing decent working conditions to their workers and cooperating with the community.

Buying ASC-certified products assures buyers that their seafood purchase has been produced in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

Partnership LPO Vendée

For a number of years now, France Naissain and Vendée Naissain have focused on safeguarding the natural environment in which their oyster spat production site is situated. As a concrete reflection of this policy, the companies signed a partnership agreement with LPO Vendée (the Vendée Bird Protection League) on 12 November 2007, setting out their commitment to protecting biodiversity on the Polder des Champs while they develop their activities.

Under the provisions of the agreement, France Naissain and Vendée Naissain undertake to carry out their oyster farming operations within the context of an approach designed to protect the surrounding environment and particularly the Polder's endemic species. The initiative relates to different parcels of the Polder, lying within the perimeter of the Natura 2000 "Marais Breton, Baie de Bourgneuf, ile de Noirmoutier and Forêts de Monts" site.

The commitments of France Naissain and Vendée Naissain are:

To make four 50-acre parcels available to LPO Vendée for the purposes of the ecological management of these spaces.
To finance ecological engineering initiatives.
To carry out annual mowing and mulching operations on designated grassland areas defined in partnership with LPO vendée to ensure abundant food-stocks and promote spring nesting.
To ban hunting on all of their parcels.
To implement eco-friendly initiatives while carrying out their activities on the Polder.

Since 2007, some very positive results have already emerged from the first four of these areas. Monitoring operations conducted by LPO Vendée have highlighted the presence of several species of community interest (Pied Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Kentish Plover, Bluethroat, Common Tern, etc.) in the designated areas.

Also within the context of an eco-responsible approach, four years ago we began contributing to the creation of a recycling solution for used oyster bags. Following a number of discussions with our suppliers over a period of time, one of them succeeded in developing a technique making it possible to manufacture recycled oyster bags from old used oyster bags. We also try to ensure our customers to embrace the recycling philosophy via our sales teams, who encourage them to return packaging to us for subsequent reuse.

And lastly, for our future developments on the Polder, we are committed to implementing the following environmental measures:

Keep the number of boreholes to a minimum by conducting pumping operations using the same borehole for longer, at a constant and reduced flow.
Carry out earthworks during periods of minimum disruption to nesting.
Place solar panels on south-facing roofs in order to generate some of the energy used.
Reduce overall electricity use via the implementation of a new pumping and air production system. With this system, in place at our four most recently constructed production sites (since 2010), energy consumption is halved.