he storm Xynthia made a deep impression in France because of the number of victims and the huge damages caused. In this article, we study the impact of Xynthia on oyster farming. We first assess the economic consequences of the storm on this industry and we study the expected changes in the farmers' perceived risk and management behaviour induced by this event. This is an important issue because it determines the means of prevention, transfer of risk and insurance able to be implemented to mitigate the negative effects of such disasters if these had to happen again in the future with greater frequency and magnitude.