On the environmental front, good news is rare. Here is one. The pressure exerted by large yachts on the Posidonia meadows in the French Mediterranean continued to decrease this summer, noted this week the maritime prefecture, drawing a “positive” assessment of the second season of application of new regulations governing the moorings.
Since 2020, France has banned the mooring of yachts over 24 meters in certain areas of the Côte d’Azur and Corsica, in order to protect Posidonia, whose meadows serve as nurseries for fish but also as carbon sinks and protection against erosion.
In the Mediterranean Sea, a mecca for international yachting, the anchoring of boats is indeed one of the main causes of the destruction of Posidonia forests. Since June 2022, an order has also limited the mooring time to 72 hours for any ship, in order to avoid congestion phenomena favoring accidents and the installation of wrecks, specified with Thierry de la Burgade, deputy ” State action at sea” of the Maritime Prefect of the Mediterranean.
650 violations observed this summer
Thus, “the pressure exerted” on Posidonia “has been divided by three” in two years, according to the maritime prefecture. “This endemic Mediterranean seaweed is crucial for our environment. We realize that the bigger the boat, the greater the damage to Posidonia,” explained Thierry de la Burgade.
But “one centimeter of this algae takes a year to grow back. When you pull out a clod, it takes a hundred years to recreate it”, he added, specifying that “one square meter of Posidonia produces 40 liters of oxygen per day”.
This summer, some 650 breaches of the new regulations governing moorings were observed, more particularly on the Côte d’Azur, according to the maritime prefecture, against 475 during the summer of 2021.
“We have eyes at sea which are semaphoric watchers. With the evolution of the regulations, they were particularly sensitized to track down the boats which would come to anchor in these regulated zones”, underlined Thierry de la Burgade. “They have clearly directed their action towards this environmental police more than in previous years”, he added, to justify this increase in reports.
And this even though, according to the press release from the maritime prefecture, “the percentage of moorings in prohibited areas has dropped significantly compared to the 2021 season, despite stable attendance, even increasing in certain sectors”.
These 650 reports gave rise to 119 reports drawn up against repeat offenders and sent to the maritime court in Marseille. The maximum penalty incurred for these illegal moorings is a fine of 150,000 euros and one year’s imprisonment.