• For the past three years, an Andromède Océanologie program called Repic has made it possible to replant Posidonia uprooted in the Mediterranean.

  • The project team noted a regression of the meadows of this protected species by 100 hectares in seven years near Antibes.

  • Already 350 m2 have been restored, the objective is to reach 1,000 m2 by 2024, i.e. 0.1 hectare.

For three years, the Repic program, unique in France in its protocol, has been spending its summer period with its head underwater in Antibes and will soon be heading to Beaulieu-sur-Mer.

This project led by Andromède Océanologie restores posidonia impacted by boat anchors.

These protected species, essential to the Mediterranean ecosystem, have rhizomes that grow from one to five centimeters per year but are torn out in a few seconds by poor anchoring.

It is moreover to protect these seagrass beds that an order was issued by the maritime prefecture in 2020 to prohibit mooring – the fact of immobilizing one's ship using an anchor – in certain areas of the Coast. d'Azur to yachts over 24 m.

Despite this measure, the Repic team believes that a "natural recovery" of the species is "unlikely" and has decided to take matters into their own hands.

The equivalent of 70 football fields disappeared in seven years

The program takes advantage of the new regulations to "collect fragments torn naturally or by the anchors of boats and relocate them in these protected areas".

To do this, maps were first produced to target priority locations.

"We started with Antibes because we noticed that between 2011 and 2018, the Posidonia meadows had shrunk by 100 hectares", develops Gwenaëlle Delaruelle, project manager for Andromède Océanologie.

That's the equivalent of more than 70 football pitches.

“The goal is to reclaim these surfaces and help nature with a little boost.

By 2024, we would like to have restored 1,000 m2”, continues the project manager.

In three years, 350 m2 have been rebuilt.

The actions take place each time during the summer periods which are "optimal" with a strong presence of ships and thus, more Posidonia uprooted to be replanted.

"In total, since 2019, it represents 51 days of work and more than 430 hours of diving," says Gwenaëlle Delaruelle.

In the Mediterranean, the Côte d'Azur concentrates 80% of yachting activity

Next destination this Friday: Beaulieu-sur-Mer.

"We go to places where seagrass beds have been destroyed because in our protocol, there is no negative impact", underlines the project manager.

Other sectors in the Mediterranean have been identified to pursue this mission and are located above all on the Côte d'Azur, where "a lot of Posidonia are present" and where "more than 80% of the yachting activity is concentrated".

For now, it is impossible to know the results of this program because it takes “years” to see a trend appear.

"If the natural conditions do not change, the meadows have already shown a significant capacity for recovery," says the manager.

It can work!

Even if it's only 50%, it's already taken and it's great for the environment.

»

In the meantime, the Andromède Océanologie team is taking advantage of these actions to observe the impact of small yachts, which do not provide AIS (vessel identification) data like "large units", on Posidonia and try to push as many sea users as possible to use the "Donia" application.

A tool that provides real-time information, lists all the seagrass beds at sea and indicates where it is possible or not to drop anchor and thus help protect the planet.

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