The SALT-MARSHES

Fore more information : please come to Vannes Vannes La Roche- emarié La Roche- Bernard Salt-marshes of Guérande : Bernard La ituated between the Loire and La Vilaine Férel LA MAISON DES PALUDIERS the Vilaine rivers, the Guérande Vilaine Férel Salt and meteorology S(*) and Mès (**) salt-marshes Saillé - 44350 GUERANDE constitute an exceptional natural Camoël The natural character, authentic Camoël Pénestin Tél : 02.40.62.21.96 - Fax : 02.40.15.03.46 and cultural heritage. Pénestin taste and variety of trace elements [email protected] make of the Guérande salt a high For almost 1500 years, generations of www.maisondespaludiers.fr quality product (awarded the Label salters, or ‘paludiers’, have shaped and

Rouge in 1991). L d. Clavreul, - Dessin © : d. www.eyesonsky.com © Joël Bruezière François el - Pascal MUSEE DES MARAIS SALANTS managed this unique landscape. Still t producing salt by hand, salters use After some difficult years (1950- A si e...…A museum traditional production techniques 1970), the salt-marshes are now 29 bis, rue Pasteur - 44740 BATZ-SUR-MER that do not only respect the environ- enjoying a true renaissance thanks Tél : 02.40.23.82.79 - Fax : 02.40.23.71.51 ment, but also contribute to the bio- to a stronger economic structure of de S Terre Valle, Philippe Della e Cossec, [email protected] diversity of the site. The presence of Zone Assérac the profession. www.cap-atlantique.fr Zone Assérac conchilycole choch, Gilbert L 180 species of birds is evidence of this. conchilycole Moreover, several legal procedures TERRE DE SEL t t t t t t and international conventions are a Bruno S arazin, Mee ing poin wi h sal ers and na uralis s www.ohlaloireatlantique.com (*) situated within the municipalities of Guérande, guarantee for the protection of the Pradel - 44350 GUERANDE Batz-sur-Mer and La Turballe. Saint Molf Tél : 02.40.62.08.80 - Fax : 02.40.62.08.88 (**) in the municipalities of Mesquer-Quimiac, Saint Molf ecological assets of this wetland tlantique. S Vincent Saint-Molf and Assérac. Mesquer (Natura 2000, Ramsar Convention). [email protected] Mesquer Since 1996, the Guérande salt- www.terredesel.fr Piriac-sur-Mer marshes have been protected by Salt-marshes of Mès : Piriac-sur-Mer Herbignac stringent French legislation, which Herbignac guarantees the protection of the TOURIST-INFO MESQUER-QUIMIAC e Pape - 02 40 23 04 22 - Crédit photo : ©Cap A landscape through eternity. Tél : 02.40.42.64.37 - Fax : 02.40.42.50.89 La Turballe [email protected] Discover and respect La Turballe www.mesquer-quimiac.com Salt-marshes Océan Saint-Lyphard AtlanticOcéan Saint-Lyphard Brière TOURIST-INFO SAINT-MOLF Brière Atlantique The Mès basin The SALT-MARSHES Atlantiqueocean Tél : 02.40.62.58.99 - Fax : 02.40.62.58.74 The Guérande basin 07- 02 51 75 05 - Impression sarl imprimerie L Guérande [email protected] Guérande www.saint-molf.fr Of the Guerande peninsula Zone Pradel TOURIST-INFO ASSERAC Zone Pradel

La Baule La Baule Batz/Mer Batz/Mer Le Pouliguen Communauté d’Agglomération de la Presqu’île de Guérande Atlantique Le Pouliguen Direction de l’environnement Pornichet 3, av. des Noëlles • BP 64 • 44503 LA BAULE CEDEX • Tél. : 02 51 75 77 81 Pornichet [email protected] Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire Nantes www.cap-atlantique.fr Nantes Document réalisé par Cap Atlantique avec le soutien de www.cap-atlantique.fr If you want to discover Respect the work of the salters ! t t he sal -marshes... … Don’t park on the tracks and try to avoid Before entering the area, you are welcome to ask for using your car to cross the salt-marshes in information in one of the three information centers and summer. museums (see overleaf). This will allow you to discover, Don’t walk on the salina. understand, and fully appreciate the landscape. he salt-marshes are a fascinating site where you can Don’t take or touch the salt piles and don’t make exceptional discoveries. But above all they are a move the salters’tools. Twork and production site, as well as a fragile wetland. So if the number of visitors is high and if they do not res- Don’t leave rubbish. pect the site, the whole heritage site may be threatened. Don’t throw cigarettes in the salinas or close to the salt piles. The salt-marshes are private property. Please stay on the tracks. Respect the site and the work of the salters and Plan of a salina Don’t pull out plants or pick flowers. keep in mind the rules opposite. ➊ Sea ➏ Internal canal (tour d’eau) How the salinas are operated and what ➋ Main canal (étier) ➐ Second evaporation pool (fards) Don’t disturb the birds. salters do ? ➌ Sluice gate (trappe) and pipe (cui) ➑ Brine pool (adernes) Crystalisation pools (œillets) ➋ Winter and spring are spent for restoration works and the ➍ Reservoir (vasière) ➒ ➓ Keep your dog on a leash. preparation of the salina for the harvest. ➎ First evaporation pool (cobier) ➓ Track In summer at every strong tide (“spring tide”), salters (pa- ➐ Ask for the salters’ permission before filming ludiers) fill their reservoirs (vasières) by opening sluice gates, or taking photos of them. which are situated on the main canal (étier). They then let the ➌ water enter in a series of shallow pools (cobier, fards, adernes) where it slowly advances by gravity thanks to a simple but in- ➐ ➒ genious series of other small sluices, or valves, that control the water-flow. ➐ ➐ The water evaporates under the influence of the wind and ➐ the sun: salinity rises, from 30-35 g/litre in the seawater to 250- ➋ ➑ 280 g/litre in the crystal- lization pools (oeillets), where the salt crystallizes. ➍ The Guérande salters pro- ➏ duce two types of salt : ➊ -the coarse grey salt, which is scraped daily from the bottoms of the pools, -The fine white salt- flower (fleur de sel), ➎ which is collected from the surface of the brine.