At sea, between the estuary of the Sèvre Niortaise and the north of La Rochelle, mussel farming () has an important place, while Fouras and the Marais d'Yves Nature Reserve are the main centres for oyster farming. La Rochelle keeps its place as a fishing port thanks to its modern port of Chef-de-Baie, but even so fishing is in decline.The port of La Rochelle is no longer practically used for industrial-scale fishing, but was ranked the 4th largest French fishing port in the early 1970s. Nowadays it is the second fishing port of the Charente-Maritime department, behind Cotinière, on the Île d'Oléron
