Baie de Somme, give back the land to the sea... (The)

With a 70 km long estuary forming a 12 km wide notch, the Baie de Somme ranks among the most beautiful bays in the world. This magical site, largely won over the sea, yet is threatened by a natural and progressive sanding.

Beyond issues related to the preservation of a unique natural site, this film questions the attitude of man facing a threatened environment: delaying the inevitable, accept it or return the land to the sea? The Baie de Somme, second behind bay of Mont Saint-Michel, is now threatened by natural silting, progressive and inevitable and this process accelerated during the 20th century. Ultimately, the consequences of this are dramatic for the site which would lose its role as co-haven for migratory birds, and its tourism, helping the entire region. But if the process is inexorable, solutions exist to slow the effects and restore the Bay's maritime character. With the systematic cleaning of new settlement areas of spartina, it is primarily a landscape restoration work that is undertaken in the bay. Secondly, a more radical and controversial issue is raised: the depolderization, which would allowed the bay to recover its dynamic hydraulics. Beyond the debates generated by such a measure, it is the notion of progress which is now questioned. As such, agree to make land reclaimed from the sea are an evolution of mentalities.