Clean and Active for Biodiversity Harbours Label Renewed

After two days of auditing, the Brest Marinas have been rewarded for their work by obtaining the renewal of the Clean and Active for Biodiversity Harbours certification (Ports Propres Actifs en Biodiversité). This certification is specific to marinas and validates the actions taken to limit the impact of the harbour's activity on the environment.

Clean and Active for Biodiversity Harbours Label

This European Certification (Ports Propres Actifs en Biodiversité) specifically concerns marinas and rewards their efforts for environmental protection and sustainable development. The approach is voluntary on the part of the marinas mangers. For this to happen, certain criteria must be met such as:

• have a trained staff who is familiar with procedures and equipment in the event of marine pollution;
• have a careening area with a system for recovering and treating polluted water when working on the hulls of boats;
• have a blue station for pumping out black and bilge water;
• have waste collection points, and containers for soiled products;
• have one or more sanitary blocks to avoid discharging grey water intor the harbour.

To date, 100 marinas have been certified as Clean Harbours, and 39, including the two marinas in Brest, have been awarded the complementary Active for Biodiversity label.

Actions carried out in Brest Marinas

Several actions are carried out in each of Brest's harbour such as :

• participation in the "I sail, I sort" action : a programme created in 2011 which is dedicated to the prevention of marine waste and aims to develop recycling;
• the sale of special absorbent sheets for yachting;
• free supply of pocket ashtrays, and the installation of MéGO! ashtrays, a company that collects and recycles cigarette butts, in the vicinity of each harbour office;
• the collaboration with Roscoff biological station, which regularly carries out checks on invasive species;
• the installation of rainwater harversters;
• the collaboration with Cedre, which tests the degradation and aborption of pollutants from certain waste products, and which has trained the marinas teams in oil spill response methods.

The teams of the Château Marina and Moulin Blanc Marina continue to carry out actions within the framework of this certification, and count on all the users of the marinas, from the yachtsman to the simple walker, to limit waste, discharges and protect the environment.