Justice has ruled. The Hungarian captain of a yacht was fined 20,000 euros this Friday in Marseille, as well as banned from sailing for one year in French territorial waters, for having destroyed seagrass beds during three anchorages. Posidonia in Cannes and Saint-Tropez.
The Marseille maritime court followed the prosecutor’s requisitions during the hearing held in mid-September concerning the one-year navigation ban, but was more severe on the amount of the fine, doubled compared to requisitions.
A “significant damage to ecosystems”
In order to protect Posidonia meadows, carbon sinks, fish nurseries and protection against coastal erosion, France has banned the anchoring of yachts over 24 meters in certain areas of the Côte d’Azur and Corsica since 2020. to avoid destruction caused by anchors.
The captain, a 40-year-old Hungarian who was absent at the trial and during the deliberations, was found guilty of having anchored his 26-meter vessel in prohibited areas three times, twice in Cannes in 2021 and a third time in Saint -Tropez in 2022.
The court considered that the captain’s actions had caused “significant damage to ecosystems” and requested compensation for the “ecological damage” caused, the regeneration of Posidonia meadows being a very slow process. This aquatic plant is capable of capturing fifteen times more CO2 than the tropical forest.
Quantifying ecological damage
To estimate the economic value of the damage suffered by the environment, the maritime court requested the assistance of the specialized environment center of the Marseille court. The note from these magistrates is expected by December 22.
“This is the first time that ecological damage, which dates from 2016, has been requested for a case affecting Posidonia,” reacted Olivia Gervais, lawyer for the environmental association France Nature Environnement (FNE) for the Provence-Alpes region. -Côte d’Azur (Paca), which is a civil party in this case, as is the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) Paca. For the FNE, “the priority is reparation in kind”, therefore on the ground, for the destruction suffered by the Posidonia meadows.
The association requested the sum of 57,163 euros for the ecological damage, wishing that this money be paid to the Water Agency, a public body which is leading a project to replant Posidonia meadows. The assessment of the sum will be the subject of a next hearing set for January 26, 2024.