Bay of Mont Saint-Michel, a balance in motion (The)

When you reach the peaceful heights of Mont-Saint-Michel for a brief stay, you are immediately struck by the ambiguous force of the bay that surrounds it. This infinite horizontal space seems to be the field of vacuum, frozen forever in an apparent immobility. Yet it is not because it is subject to a dizzying juxtaposition of movement and rhythm. The cosmic rhythm of the tides - the highest in the world - that drive by a biological productivity is extraordinary.

Facing the pressure of tourism on the coast and its economic challenges, the Mont Saint-Michel project has been launched to fight against the natural silting of the bay and restore its maritime character. Meanwhile, the arrival of new residents, the reorganisation of natural areas for recreation and the increased attendance by hikers in areas neglected pose new risks of loss of identity for the Bay.
The diversity of players converging around the bay - fishermen, oyster, mussel farmers, shepherds, farmers, tourism professionals, managers - had attracted a wide variety of points of view. Today the new site opposes the utilitarian view of professional seafarers to a dreamed nature of tourists. To a logic of secular organic production succeeds today a logical image production, other times other charges! If it is still in balance because it is preserved by urbanization or industry, the future of this bay will depend on the men who will look upon it.