Economy
The main economical resource is agriculture. Dairy farming is a prominent activity. Along the west coast, renowned vegetables are grown (carrots of Créances). The renown trademark "Florette" was created in Lessay
The region is also famous for its shellfish culture, like the oysters from Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue and Pirou, and the manufacturing of alcoholic beverages like cider and calvados, made from local grown apples and pears.
The region hosts two important nuclear power facilities. At Flamanville there is a nuclear power plant, where the second European Pressurized Reactor in the world is being constructed, with commissioning delayed to 2016 or later. COGEMA La Hague site, a large nuclear waste reprocessing and storage complex operated by Areva NC, is located a few miles to the north, at Beaumont-Hague. The facility stores all high level waste from the French nuclear power program in one large vault. Nuclear industry provides a substantial portion of jobs in the region. The roads used for transport of nuclear waste have been blocked many times in the past by environmental action group Greenpeace. Local environmental groups have voiced concerns about the radioactivity levels of the cooling water of both these nuclear sites, which is being flushed into the bay of Vauville; however, the emitted radioactivity is several orders of magnitude below natural background levels and does not pose any hazard.
Naval shipyards are based in Cherbourg. DCNS (controlled by the French Gov.) build the Nuclear submarine fleet since the 1960s. CMN (private shipyard) Build fregates and patrolers for various states, mostly from the middle east.
Tourism is also an important economic activity in this region. Many tourists visit the D-Day invasion beaches, Utah Beach Being the most western beach of all. Sainte-Mère-Église a few miles away from the beach, very famous for its paratroopers museum .
The "cite de la mer" in Cherbourg is dedicated to the underseas. A unique museum where Le Redoutable (first French Nuclear submarine, launched in the 60s) is the main attraction.
Read more about this topic: Cotentin Peninsula
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“Wise men read very sharply all your private history in your look and gait and behavior. The whole economy of nature is bent on expression. The tell-tale body is all tongues. Men are like Geneva watches with crystal faces which expose the whole movement.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It enhances our sense of the grand security and serenity of nature to observe the still undisturbed economy and content of the fishes of this century, their happiness a regular fruit of the summer.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.... for really new ideas of any kind—no matter how ultimately profitable or otherwise successful some of them might prove to be—there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)