On paper, the experience has everything to make you dream. Leave by boat in the early morning to meet the dolphins off the Mediterranean, dive alongside them in the turquoise blue waters, observe cetaceans in their natural environment with the help of a mask and a snorkel… Lunch option in the open sea for customers who would like to take advantage of a complete package, with “guarantee” of encountering groups of animals thanks to upstream tracking by a microlight, that is to say a small plane. All for “310 euros per day, and 210 euros for half a day”, specifies Magalie Grimont, who with her husband presented this type of activity to tourists on the Côte d’Azur until last summer. On their websites, two other operators in the region also offered various “whale watching” offers, including swimming near marine mammals. In the event of difficulty in finding the animals in the open sea, these entrepreneurs even promised their customers to “re-invite” them on board the ship.
In July 2022, these launches as close as possible to the dolphins – very popular among holidaymakers – had to stop. Because since a ministerial decree dated September 3, 2020, entered into force on January 1, 2021, “intentional disturbance including the approach of animals at a distance of less than 100 meters in marine protected areas […] and the pursuit or harassment of animals in the natural environment” are strictly prohibited in the Mediterranean Sea. decree taken on July 6, 2021 by the maritime prefecture of the Mediterranean even extended this ban to “all internal waters and the French territorial sea in the Mediterranean”. A ban apparently little respected by the operators concerned who, despite an information meeting in December 2020 and a reminder of the rules in force by the maritime gendarmerie in April 2021, would have continued their activity “all summer 2021, because it is very lucrative”, deplores the parquet floor of Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes).
Same results the following summer: at the beginning of July 2022, after a report from the France Nature Environnement (FNE) association, the maritime gendarmerie carried out various checks, and realized that these “experiments” were still offered by these operators. This finding prompted the prosecution to place three company managers in custody, and to carry out various searches. A judge of freedoms and detention “issued an order for the seizure of the four boats belonging to the three companies”, specifies the parquet floor. Prosecuted by the Grasse court for “misleading commercial practice” and “willful disturbance of a protected non-domesticated animal species”, the three entrepreneurs and their respective companies were sentenced on Thursday to “cumulative fines of up to 13,500 euros, and their boats have been returned”, told L’Express Mathilde Goueffon, lawyer for FNE in Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur. During the trial, on December 14, the public prosecutor had requested a three-month suspended prison sentence, fines of up to 18,000 euros and the confiscation of the boats.
“Under the radar” of the authorities
“The boats are not supposed to approach within 100 meters, but the animals are used to it, they come directly to meet us! This is a decree which seems to me totally inappropriate to the reality of what is happening at sea” , reacts to L’Express Magalie Grimont, which claims to have lost “at least 400,000 euros in turnover” since the seizure of his boat last July. “We did not think we were outlaws, since we absolutely do not harass the dolphins”, she defends herself, saying that the tracking by ULM only lasted about “a quarter of an hour a day”, and “not all days”.
An argument swept away by Elodie Martinie-Cousty, head of the Oceans, sea and coasts network of FNE. “From the moment you send low-flying planes to spot groups of cetaceans, then rush out to sea to chase them, and drop customers in the water to observe them, it’s harassment of wild animals,” she said. While the dolphins can be at rest or in the middle of a period of socialization, the referent of the association in the PACA region even denounces a “dangerous” practice, exercised “outside of any pedagogy” and in a “logic of commercial profitability” by these contractors. “It’s as if you were driving at full speed in a 4×4 behind leopards in the savannah, and that you let the tourists run with them, instead of observing them from afar and studying their characteristics”, illustrates Mattia Trabucchi.
For the moment, the maritime gendarmerie indicates to L’Express that the three companies judged this Thursday are “the only ones” to have continued to offer swimming with dolphins despite the various orders, and to have had their boats seized. “But we continue to monitor this activity very closely, which is extremely lucrative and which has a great chance of tempting tourists”, underlines Captain Eric Sanchez, second in command of the Toulon maritime gendarmerie company. Laurène Trudelle, project manager for the “Whale Watching” program of the association for the protection of cetaceans Miraceti, is concerned for her part about the “democratization of boat rental”, which could encourage illegal whale watching operations, without official structures and without framed offers. “Any owner of a motor boat can take their friends, or potential customers, to see the animals. And they will completely pass under the radar of the authorities”.
“Ethical” label since 2014
In an attempt to regulate the market, Miraceti offers a label to specialized operators registered in a quality and environmental responsibility approach. Created in 2014, High Quality Whale-Watching (HQWW) can only be granted to commercial structures – NGOs, for example, are not eligible – and is based on the voluntary participation of partner companies. To do this, the latter must meet very comprehensive specifications, which specify for example that cetaceans must not be approached within 100 meters, that a vigilance zone of 300 meters must be defined to avoid disturbances generated by the boats, that the speed of the boat must be constant and set on the slowest animal, without exceeding five knots, or that the approach must be parallel to the course of the cetaceans.
To be eligible for the label, interested entrepreneurs must first take paid training – 350 euros – and pay an annual fee of 250 euros. “Operators are checked at least every three years, and can see their label suspended”, wishes to specify Laurène Trudelle. Currently, 17 French structures operating around the Mediterranean basin would be labeled HQWW: the latter all offer sea excursions to meet dolphins from a distance and in a more ethical way, for sums varying from 90 to 150 euros per half-day.