The Documentary Podcast Stemming the tide in Normandy
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Nov 25, 2025 Marion, a local oyster producer from the Coutainville coastline, shares her family's generational connection to the area and the impact of coastal erosion. She details how rising sea levels are threatening both homes and oyster farms, creating heated debates about defense strategies. Marion recounts community efforts to protect the dunes, from salvaging cabins to creating wooden defenses. Locals voice skepticism about government plans for nature-based solutions while grappling with the economic stakes of relocation and loss of their heritage.
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Family History Tied To One Beach Shack
- Marion has dug for palourde clams here for 40 years and still returns each summer to La Poulette.
- Her family's cabins were swept away by erosion, forcing them to rebuild and live in the tiny shack through a winter.
Locals Rebuilt To Protect La Poulette
- Marion and oyster farmers moved a cabin and piled big bags of sand and rocks to save La Poulette from collapse.
- The town and municipal authorities later installed large protective stones and wooden stakes to shore it up.
Hard Defences Spark Local-State Tension
- Residents want extended concrete seawalls but new laws favour softer, nature-based defences.
- Authorities argue hard structures can worsen erosion elsewhere, prompting trials of soft solutions.