Le marais salant de Guérande : un écosystème transformé en moyen de production

The Guérande Marshes : An Ecosystem as a Means of Production. Salt production used to be the primary economical activity of communities living on the border of Guérande's marshes. Land tenure formation of salt producing units and social organization of work in the marsh were factors which contributed to the establishment of the social structure of those communities. Actually the marsh is an ecosystem which, although changed to a means of production, has to be maintained if salt ponds are to be kept in good order. There is a close relationship between its reproduction and the marsh communities' production. Because of the salt production crisis on the Atlantic coast, 50 % of the salt ponds are now out of exploitation. Reduction of available work power implies the non-performance of some of the tasks that would be necessary to maintain the ecosystem in a way compatible with salt production. To get around the problem, marsh people have come to resort to a series of precarious technologies whose succession led to an increasing degradation of production set up, along with a disintegration of the traditional social structure. The process is now continuing and enlarging on its own. ment of the social structure of those communities. Actually the marsh is an ecosystem which, although changed to a means of production, has to be maintained if salt ponds are to be kept in good order. There is a close relationship between its reproduction and the marsh communities' production. Because of the salt production crisis on the Atlantic coast, 50 % of the salt ponds are now out of exploitation. Reduction of available work power implies the non-performance of some of the tasks that would be necessary to maintain the ecosystem in a way compatible with salt production. To get around the problem, marsh people have come to resort to a series of precarious technologies whose succession led to an increasing degradation of production set up, along with a disintegration of the traditional social structure. The process is now continuing and enlarging on its own.La production de sel était naguère l'activité économique dominante des communautés riveraines du marais de Guérande : la propriété et la formation des exploitations, l'organisation sociale du travail dans le marais sont autant de phénomènes constitutifs de leur structure sociale. Le marais se présente comme un écosystème transformé en moyen de production dont l'entretien continu est une condition nécessaire au bon fonctionnement des salines ; sa reproduction est étroitement liée à celle des communautés paludières. A la suite de la crise de la production de sel sur la côte atlantique, 50 % des salines sont aujourd'hui inexploitées. La diminution de la force de travail disponible entraîne la non-exécution de tâches nécessaires au maintien de l'écosystème dans une forme compatible avec la production de sel. Pour tourner les difficultés rencontrées, les paludiers ont recours à des combinaisons techniques précaires dont la succession se traduit par une dégradation progressive du dispositif de production, qui va de pair avec la désintégration de la structure sociale traditionnelle. Ce processus se continue et s'amplifie de lui-même.Lemonnier Pierre. Le marais salant de Guérande : un écosystème transformé en moyen de production. In: Études rurales, n°66, 1977. pp. 7-22