What does this mean???

[nickc61]

I was travelling through northern France this weekend past and going through Sangatte, I saw a sign, now my French not being what it used to be I had no idea what it meant but I really want to know what it means. I have googled it and find plenty of references but I cannot find anything that will translate it into English.

The sign said "Non Aux Moulieres", I get the impression they do not like something but I have no idea what Moulieres can be!

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[LazyGun]

Its a protest by the residents of Sangatte (an otherwise sleepy little seaside resort town) about proposals to use some of its beach area for mussel culture, which they say will ruin its image as a resort.

My french is lousy, but I think Non aux mouli�res is actually something like no to musselfarming.

[annavc]

My french is really bad but I think LazyGun is right as I do know that "moules" is mussels.

[Octavius]

Possibly - and this is a long shot.....

Do Not Touch Our Beach!

I believe it ios something to do with installing lots of piles on the beach to allow breeding wildlife. Again my french isn't all that but I heard something about the beach piles at Sangette/Bleriot beach so maybe it refers to that.

[Octavius]

Actually thinking about it, it probably refers to the creation of mussel farms in the context as mentioned above.

But the scheme generally affect the beach. So I imagine, LazyGun is right.

[LazyGun]

Ahh, the beach piles thing (saw a couple of pictures of piles on a beach in an article about this) makes sense now Octavius, because the piles are used as the base for the mussels in intensive mussel farming.

[nickc61]

Thanks for your quick response, the closest I could get to moulieres was moules for mussels, but I could not quite work out what they had against the poor little fellows. Makes sense now

Thanks again!!

[SteveD]

Here you go:

http://www.thebestof.co.uk/Folkestone/News/200 78

[LazyGun]

Poor Sangatte! First them pesky immigrants disturbing the tranquility... now the naughty molluscs!

[samuel23]

I wouldn't like piles on my beach ~ painful!

[Eve]

A mouliere is a mussel bed.

"Non aux" means "no to the".

So it means no to the mussel beds.

[savesangatte]

Hi Nick!

Thanks for your interest for Sangatte please have a look to the following links for more informations about this crazy mussel farm project:

http://srcalais.chez-alice.fr/SANGATTE.htm
http://alaplagesangatte.skyblog.com

Best regards, Francois.