Natura 2000 Marine sites in the French Mediterranean. Sébastien Mabile Marine Protected Areas PhD

Transcription

1 Sébastien Mabile Marine Protected Areas PhD Natura 2000 marine sites management in the French Mediterranean: the case of the Calanques of Marseilles Natura 2000 Marine sites in the French Mediterranean Contractual Management in the Field Of Marine Environment. Presentation of the Calanques of Marseilles First steps for contractual Protection of the marine environment 1

2 Lawful protection, used to protect some spaces of great Natural or cultural importance. Contractual protection, more recently in use, which make possible To manage in a positive way some spaces occupied or used by Third Parties Habitats Directive article 6 1 Contractual Management Advantages and conditions Voluntary step between the various stakeholders. Character of real obligation. Dialogue within the Steering Committee. Clause of denunciation by the administration. Presence an element which encourage adhesion to the contract, safeguarding the effectiveness of measures. Must load true sanctions in the event of non respect. Contract Natura 2000 Defined by Decree of December 20 th 2001 and Circular of May 3 rd 2002 Effective French application of Directive EEC, article 6 1 2

3 Natura 2000 Contrats Contents Commitments which correspond to the good practices and identified like such by various actors. Commitments which go beyond these good practices. No counterparts. Open rights to financial counterpart. Reserved to only holders of rights in rem and personal conferring The pleasure of the pieces concerned (Decree of 20 th December 2001) Five years period minimal duration Marine Environment Concept of Public Maritime Domain opposed to any Establishment of rights in rem and personal Advisable to wonder about the possibilities of Introducing contractual protection within the Framework of Natura

4 The French European Marine Sites in the Mediterranean Corsica Provence Alpes Côte d Azur Languedoc Roussillon 15 European Marine Sites proposed in the French Mediterranean 4

5 City of Marseille (1 Million inhabitants) Sewer rejection Characteristics Concentrates multiple uses (fishing, shipping, diving ) Weak regulation and monitoring Quasi non existent police forces Illegal uses such as poaching or trawling 5

6 Existing regulations Natura 2000 marine Site limits Archaeological protection area Sanitary area Trawling allowed beyond this limit 100 meters deep Contractual management for professional uses Targets: professional fishermen & scuba diving centre «Contracts for Natura 2000 marine sites management» Identification of possible contracting stakeholders Good practices Beyond these good practices On the basis of regulation of fishing: right of access to the resources In the absence of lawful base: financial counterpart for participation In positive actions of conservation 6

7 Contractual management for recreational uses Targets: Shipping & recreational fishing mainly «Charter or code of good practices» Single document gathering the whole uses practiced on The area Contents: existing regulation and good practices Two main contractual forms: Information of the users: policy of education and training Specific contract of ecological commitments: could submit access to The site (if lawful base) Could be constitutive of financial paybacks Conclusion on Contractual Protection Difficulties Identification of contracting Parties Definition of management regulations Follow-up of commitments and implementation of sanctions Flexibility Advantages Voluntary step, discussion between all stakeholders 7

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9 Natura 2000 Marine Sites Management in the French Mediterranean: First Steps Paper prepared for the International Conference held in Zakynthos Applying EU Environmental Legislation in the Field of Marine Protection Sébastien Mabile WWF-France Marine Protected Areas PhD 1. Presentation of article 6, 1 French Implementation There are traditionally two types of protection for natural spaces : lawful protection, used to protect some spaces of great natural or cultural importance, and contractual protection, more recently in use, which make possible to manage in a positive way some spaces occupied or used by third parties. Generally, European policies do not give a lot of credit to the contractual devices. Only the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC obliges the Member States to define adapted lawful, administrative or contractual regulations, leaving the choice to the MS to define the form of management. In France, afterwards of multiple reversals, the contractual step, considered as being more acceptable by the rural world, was privileged. Contractual management indeed has many advantages: - On the one hand, it must be the fruit of a voluntary step between the various stakeholders. - On the other hand, the development and the definition of contractual measures must be made in the most concerted possible way. Within the framework of Natura 2000, the dialogue takes place within the Steering Committee thus giving an institutional form. - Lastly, to allow the adhesion of the stakeholders to the contract, there must be the presence of an incitative element, safeguarding the effectiveness of measures. However, the use of the contract must also answer to a certain number of conditions: it must have a character of real obligation, it must comprise a clause of denunciation by the administration and finally, it must load true sanctions in the event of non respect. The contractual form of Natura 2000 sites management was defined for the first time by the decree of December 20 th, 2001 and the Circular of May 3 rd, The contracts Natura 2000 are the effective application of article 6 1 of the Directive, as a complement to existing lawful regulation. The contracts Natura 2000 contain two parts: - On the one hand, commitments which correspond to the good practices and identified like such by the various actors (stakeholders and administration gathering within the Steering Committee). - On the other hand, commitments which, going beyond these good practices (positive actions of conservation or restoration) open rights to financial counterparts. The whole actions identified in the contracts must be located within the perimeter of the Natura 2000 site area. Lastly, the decree of December 20 th, 2001 holds these contracts with

10 the only holders of rights in rem and personal conferring the pleasure of the pieces concerned. They are concluded with the Préfet for one five years period minimal duration. However, the marine environment is characterised by the legal concept of maritime public domain which is opposed to any establishment of rights in rem and personal, and consequently, with the implementation of the contractual step on the same model as in the terrestrial environment. It is thus advisable to wonder about the possibilities of introducing contractual protection of marine areas within the framework of Natura the Calanques from Marseilles to Cassis: presentation of the Natura 2000 marine site. The Calanques from Marseilles to Cassis marine site concentrates multiple uses and is characterised by a weak regulation, a weak monitoring and a quasi non existent police forces. During past years, some illegal practices have developed such as poaching or trawling within the three miles marine band, incompatible with the conservation results obligation claims by the Directive. These practices also harm to the professional fishermen who practice traditional fishing within the Natura 2000 marine site using old fashioned techniques on reduced size boats. They are limited number of roughly. They are lastly gathered within a professional organisation specific to the Mediterranean: la prud homie. Originality of this organisation, comparable to certain extent with the Italian Consortium or the Spanish Cofridas, is that it has a lawful and disciplinary capacity for the exercise of fishing in a given sector, recognised by a decree of There is also a crowd of yachtsmen and divers in summer, and throughout the year, a lot of recreational fishermen. Among the latter, the underwater hunters present a certain threat at the ecological balance because of the low visibility of their activities. 3. Possible contractual regulations Being given the strong diversity of uses practised within the site, it is appropriate to do a first distinction between those which concern the field professionals and those which concern the entertainment and leisure. The professional fishermen and the commercial and associative structures of scuba diving concern the first category overall. The second category contains th single divers, yachtsmen as well as recreational fishermen, including underwater hunters. 3.1 Contractual management of professional uses The European Commission recalled on several occasions that Natura 2000 network did not exclude systematically practise of fishing. Also, the setting up of a contractual device offers a unique opportunity to test on a large scale some models of sustainable fishing which could contribute to a better recognition at a European level of inshore waters small scale Mediterranean fishing. I told you previously that the contracts Natura 2000 were based on legal claims to identify the contracting stakeholders to be concerned with the recommended management measures. Such an identification is difficult in the marine environment, and yet, it proves to be essential to precisely identify the fishermen who evolve in a regular way in the indicated site. However,

11 the prud homal model rests on a mode of spatial organisation well far from the principle of free access to the natural resources which dominates industrial fisheries. Thus, the professional Community organises, under the terms of the capacity which is conferred to it by the decree of 1859, the access to the site and to the natural resources, and precisely knows due to this fact, the usual places of work of its members. It would thus be advisable to closely associate the prud homie to the contract, in order to identify the possible contracting persons precisely. It is also in the definition of contractual regulations of management to be advisable to associate the prud homie. The first category of rules corresponding to the good practices could thus be strongly inspired by the fishing regulations taken under the terms of the decree of 1859 as it has been done in Port-Cros National Park. These rules aimed at the origin two principle objectives: - Organisation of the fishing activity so that each member can live from its own work. - Perpetuation of the profession for the community by the implementation of social measures associated to natural protection measures. They relate to fields as various as fishing techniques, size of the chocks of the nets, size of the mesh, length of the nets or definition of the fishing areas. The second category of regulations, those going further that these good practices, could take the form of biological stops on the spawning grounds areas or the implementation of no fishing zones in the ecological significant areas. That requires the definition of an incitative element which would make it possible to ensure adhesion to the contract. This element could take two different forms: - On the basis of regulation of fishing, adhesion to the contract could allow the grating of a right of access to the resource. It is the experimentation currently in hand in the National Park of Port-Cros. - In the absence of regulation, the fishermen could see themselves granting a financial counterpart for their participation in positive actions of conservation. These last can take the form of co-operation project or training courses with the manager of the site. Such an experimentation is currently under development within the natural reserve of the Bonifacio Mouths in Corsica where professional fishermen have the possibility of taking part in co-operation actions in the exchange of a financial counterpart established at approximately 1830 for ten half-days of work. The financing of such actions within the framework of Natura 2000 could be assured as well by the European Community, as by the French State or the local Authorities. On a similar basis, such contracts could also be concluded with the professional operators of scuba diving. Concerning the entertaining users, the implementation of the contractual process proves to be much more complicated. It runs up against the fact that the users are not structured within specialised organisations and that they are consequently not easily identifiable. 3.2 Contractual management of recreational uses It relates to mainly underwater hunting, recreational fishing and shipping. The practice of individual scuba diving remains relatively marginal and can be excluded from our scope.

12 The most frequently in-use tool within the Marine Protected Areas for these practices is the code or charter of good practices. It contains a data for the practices recommended within the framework of a specific activity (diving, fishing, shipping ). Certain users practising several of these activities simultaneously (a fisherman or a diver being also yachtsmen when sailing to the place of practice of its activity), it would be preferable to have e single document gathering the whole uses practised on the area. This code could take two different forms: - On the one hand, it could take the form of an information document: this minimal step consists in informing the users about the regulation in force and the good recommended practices. It concerns a policy of education and training which is not often able to protect a sensitive area. - Thus, on the other hand, a specific contract of ecological commitment could be defined: changing only the form and not the contents, this type of commitment could also submit the users accessing to a site to respect by contract a certain number of good practices. This type of regulations requires a lawful base however once again. In the absence of it, the contract could be constitutive of paybacks, in particular related to the harbour place if the user owns his boat. Conclusion: Contractual management of uses in the marine environment thus encounters a certain number of difficulties: identification of the contracting parties, definition of management regulations, follow-up of the commitments and implementation of sanctions in the event of non respect. It has nether the less many advantages: flexibility, voluntary step, and discussion between all stakeholders. Lastly, the implementation of Natura 2000 in the marine environment offers a unique occasion to change some behaviours, recognising the ecological importance of the designated areas. Unfortunately, no contracts have been concluded up to today.