The mayors of coastal municipalities should be able to regulate maritime traffic in front of their territory, said this Thursday David Lisnard, mayor of Les Républicains de Cannes and president of the influential Association of Mayors of France (AMF). These waters fall under the jurisdiction of the State, but the Cannes city councilor has been demanding for ten years to have a say on the circulation of ships and tourist structures.
It primarily targets cruise ships which block the view in the summer, but also leisure platforms which
“create unfair competition”
compared to beachgoers and restaurants subject to taxes and municipal rules.
The Canua Island floating beach project, which was to see the light of day in 2023 off the coast of Mandelieu-la-Napoule (Alpes-Maritimes), a town bordering Cannes, is thus causing controversy. Banned last year, it won its case in court in the fall and its promoters are preparing to launch their giant trimaran with swimming pool, restaurant and deckchairs for the summer season.
charter
Since 2019, David Lisnard has imposed a charter on cruise operators in which they undertake to limit the sulfur content of their fuel to 0.1% in order to disembark their passengers in Cannes and obtained an order from the prefecture regulating anchorage boats of 24 meters or more to protect Posidonia meadows.
“But we must go further to protect our bay and we can no longer endure this excess of liners and commercial boats. For this to happen, French law must evolve
,” he insisted.
Hostility is growing towards the cruise industry, a source of significant revenue for stopover cities but considered harmful to the health of local residents and the environment. In recent years, Venice and Amsterdam have banned sea giants from their city centers. In March, around fifteen European groups met in Marseille to demand a radical reduction in cruises.
And AtmoSud, the regional air quality observatory, announced Wednesday that if atmospheric pollution has been on a downward trend for ten years in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, nitrogen dioxide emissions due to maritime transport had increased since 2019. According to the first state report presented in February, 1,700 cruise ship stopovers were recorded in 2023 in French Mediterranean ports, including 622 in Marseille, 196 in Ajaccio and 160 in Cannes.