The boat hums, very close to the swimmers. Immediately, the gendarmes of the Arcachon nautical brigade intervened to interrupt this marine rodeo, one of the many nuisances disturbing the clear waters of the Banc d’Arguin (Gironde), a nature reserve which turns into a “boat parking lot” in summer. . At the beginning of August, some 300 boats are massed on the Banc d’Arguin, a four-kilometre-long sandbar at the entrance to the Bassin d’Arcachon, one of the most popular areas on the Atlantic coast. . And the gendarmes, who patrol daily, face the overcrowding of the site, with an average of 100 offenses per month in the summer.
Faced with the four young boaters guilty of having turned too close to the sandbank and at a speed close to 20 knots (37 km/h) in a protected area limited to five knots, the three soldiers demonstrate pedagogy. “You arrive like a ball from the sea, you don’t even ask yourself the question of slowing down”, lectures Warrant Officer Thierry Aubouin.
“Not here to ”murder” people” with tickets
The control makes it possible to check the documentation of the luxurious motor boat, its safety equipment (extinguisher, life jackets, flashlight…) and to make boaters aware of the number one danger in this very touristic arm of the sea, enclosed between the dune du Pilat and the banc d’Arguin: excessive speed. “We do prevention, we’re not here to ‘murder’ people” with fines, explains Warrant Officer Maxime Priat, on board the Pherousathe star of the gendarmerie.
Curator of the Banc d’Arguin national nature reserve, Benoît Dumeau defends the “singularity of this territory”, “refuge” for many species of birds (gulls, terns, sandpipers, oystercatchers) and fish. “The reserve sometimes takes on the form of boat parking and that creates nuisance”, deplores this official of Sepanso, a federation of environmental associations, which judges the area “victim of its success”. “When the gendarmes are there to make everyone slow down, we breathe a little because their presence is good,” he observes.
A punch operation
At the end of July, the State organized a control operation in the area, reporting around thirty violations, including speeding up to 30 knots (55 km / h). The gendarmerie confirms an “increase in offenses and incivilities” in recent years, in particular from users of sea scooters.
Around Pherousa, a policeman patrols himself on a jet-ski and, like a sheepdog, catches up and drives down the boats that exceed the authorized speed. The 10 personnel of the nautical brigade take turns on the jet-ski, the practice of which is “exhausting”. “We share the pleasure … and the aches”, smiles Warrant Officer Priat, member of a multitasking unit: specialists in scuba diving, these gendarmes are regularly mobilized within the framework of judicial investigations in New Aquitaine , for the search for bodies or submerged vehicles.
And, last year, they were in support of the firefighters in the face of the gigantic fire which ravaged the forests of Teste-de-Buch, very close to the coast. “We had a ringside seat and the Canadairs came to bail out between the Banc d’Arguin and the Dune du Pilat, remembers Maxime Priat. We had to secure the area to avoid an accident. »