It's a firm no.

The prosecutor's office in Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes) had the boats of three companies seized in early July which offered to swim in the Mediterranean with dolphins, a practice prohibited since 2020, we learned this Wednesday from these companies and the prosecutor's office. .

For around 300 euros per person for the day, these companies based in Mandelieu-la-Napoule and Antibes, on the Côte d'Azur, offered to jump into the water, in the open sea, with mask and snorkel, in the middle of a school of dolphins, previously spotted using a microlight.

However, since a ministerial decree of September 3, 2020, which entered into force on January 1, 2021, “we no longer have the right to approach within 100 meters of a dolphin, even less to jump into the water. with a dolphin,” said the prosecution.

A “very lucrative” activity

After a first information meeting with the three operators in December 2020, "we noted in February 2021 that the activity was still offered on their website", added the prosecution.

After a recall by the maritime gendarmerie in April 2021, the three companies “continued all summer 2021, because it is very lucrative”.

At the beginning of July, when the maritime gendarmerie noted that this swimming with dolphins was continuing and after a report from the France nature environment association (FNE), the prosecution placed the three managers of the three companies in police custody and conducted searches.

A judge of freedoms and detention “issued an order for the seizure of the four boats belonging to the three companies”, further specified the prosecution.

Up to two years in prison

The three managers will be heard again "to be tried by the end of the year", in particular for "misleading commercial practice" and "willful disturbance of a protected non-domesticated animal species", added the prosecution.

The managers risk up to two years in prison and a fine of 300,000 euros.

“We have never been convicted, we work with scientists and yet we are treated like serious criminals,” reacted Magalie Grimont, wife of the manager of Le Bateau d'Annett, one of the three companies targeted.

“While we offer other activities, such as fishing or whale watching, we are deprived of our working tool and threatened with judicial liquidation,” she added, estimating that around ten jobs are in play.

Swimming in “international waters”

In their defence, the three companies grouped together in a Syndicate of the collective of Riviera and French marine operators (COMPA) and which, in a press release, present themselves as "defenders of responsible ecotourism" ensure that they organized these swims with dolphins “in international waters”.

An argument swept away by the prosecution, which retorts that, according to its investigations, “98% of these activities were carried out in French territorial waters”.

In a written question to the Minister of the Interior dated July 13 and consulted by AFP, the Senator for the Alpes-Maritimes, Henry Leroy, “alert” on the “need to protect swimming activity near dolphins " in the department " in the face of repeated and unfounded attacks from various ecological associations ".

“Interruption of natural behavior”

According to Morgane Ratel, project manager at the Miraceti association for the knowledge and protection of cetaceans, this activity of swimming with dolphins "is limited to this small group of companies in the Var".

The young woman is pleased that the activity “is not developing but we continue to follow it”.

If she confirms that it is not uncommon for dolphins to approach boats, on the other hand, "as soon as there is an interaction between the cetacean and humans, there is an interruption in natural behavior".

Cetaceans in danger

Very small sea - 1% of the world surface of the oceans - the Mediterranean is home to more than 10,000 species.

Twenty-one kinds of cetaceans - out of the 87 listed in the world - have been observed in its waters and those of the Black Sea, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Most are listed as “endangered”.

In addition to encounters with overly enterprising tourists, these animals risk collisions with ships, in a sea concentrating 25% of world traffic.

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