Bouzigues is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France.

The Étang de Thau, or Bassin de Thau, is the largest of a string of lagoons that stretch along the French coast from the Rhône river to the foothills of the Pyrenees and the border to Spain in the Occitainie. Although it has a high salinity, it is considered the second largest lake in France. Its size and depth, which distinguish it from other lagoons of the region, is explained by the geomorphology of the region: it is the syncline formed from folding which produced the corresponding anticline of the Gardiole in the north east.

The Bassin de Thau provides a habitat for a variety of wild animals, notably birds such as herons and pink flamingos and a rich marine fauna, including bivalves (oysters and mussels), jellyfish, fish, and algae. Periodically in the spring and summer, the Thau Lagoon has algae blooms of Alexandrium catenella which sometimes reach such high levels that it results in contamination of the lagoon's bivalves with algae toxins.