Good thing that water-borne virus could never cross the English Channel, huh?
An oyster company in Whitstable has been urged to take advantage of the herpes crisis killing billions of the shellfish in France. Warmer waters along the Atlantic coast have led to an abundance of plankton, meaning the oysters are assured of food and are instead concentrating on developing their sexual organs.
But this has left them open to infection, and now the French must look elsewhere or face a severe shortage of the delicacy over the next few years. So far it is estimated around eight billion of the molluscs have already died. Whitstable is famous for its oysters, with natives growing wild and Pacific rocks being farmed off the coast. Representatives of the Shellfish Association have urged UK growers to capitalise on the situation, and Whitstable marine biologist John Bayes said it presented a great opportunity for the Seasalter Shellfish firm, of which he is managing director.
He added: “We have plenty of room here to grow five or 10 times as many oysters. It costs money to increase production, but if we can we could be looking at some seriously big income. “We would have increased our exports to France straight away if we had the stuff, but these deaths were not foreseeable and we haven’t had time to up our production.
“Also the French want them a certain size and we sell them quite small, so it will take a few years to get them to how they want them. “However it’s purely hypothetical that the French oysters are dying of herpes. It’s such a common virus that occurs in lots of different creatures, and it seems quite an easy disease to blame.
EDIT
http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/French-herpes-a-boost-for-Kent_s-oyster-industry-newsinkent15235.aspx
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