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;
• 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.

Brest marinas teams regularly have to deal with small-scale pollution in the ports. To help them deal with this type of situation, Cedre provided them with two days of training in oil spill response techniques.

What is Cedre?

Located in the Moulin Blanc harbour, Cedre is an expert in accidental water pollution, from upstream preparation to the restoration of environments after accidents. It operates both in France and abroad.

Its missions are to provide expertise and advice to entities in charge of water pollution control. Cedre has also been mandated by the Ministry of Ecology to lead the network for monitoring macro- and micro-plastic waste on the coastline.

Cedre is also a training centre for professionals in the fight against accidental oil pollution. It is in this capacity that Cedre has intervened in Brest marinas.

Understanding accidental pollution in marinas

To keep the harbour clean, it is necessary to identify and understand the various possible pollutions in order to implement the right technical means.

The pollutions that we find most frequently in marinas are :

• black and grey waters;
• fuels;
• natural and urban outfalls.

Faced with this, there are difficulties in managing pollution linked to the environment:

• rip-rap, which is difficult to protect and clean;
• pontoons, under which pollution can go;
• boats moored to pontoons, which can end up in the middle of pollution.

The port agents, supervised by Cedre trainers, were able to test different equipments in the Moulin Blanc harbour in order to learn how to contain and clean up an oil spill. The simulation on our infrastructures allowed the team to better understand the progress of such an operation, and to identify the elements of the site that could be problematic for the deployment of the different floating booms.

Rice husks were used to simulate a fuel leak.

Cedre also has a technical platform where our teams were able to practice identifying sources of pollution, and handling the booms to contain and clean up the pollution.

What to remember about oil spill response techniques:

• floating booms are not 100% efficient, there will always be losses;
• diesel spreads very quickly, but evaporates in 24 to 48 hours;
• petrol evaporates faster than diesel. However, in the event of a large leak, the area must be evacuated as there is a risk of explosion;
• it is essential to identify the source of a spill quickly in order to be effective.

Equipments in Brest marinas to prevent pollution

The majority of pollution comes from ships moored in the port. These include ships that empty their bilges in the harbour, or those with overflowing fuel tanks.

To prevent boaters from polluting the marinas themselves, the Brest marinas provide various facilities:

• a careening area;
• a black water and grey water station;
• a fuel station with retention grids;
• a waste disposal centre with containers for soiled products;
• a rubish dump at the top of the Moulin Blanc careening dock.

In addition, boaters will also find underground containers for household waste, cardboard and glass. Ashtrays have also been installed along the Moulin Blanc promenade and near the sanitary facilities in both harbours.

Brest marinas have been awarded the Ports Propres Actifs en biodiversité label (Clean and Active for biodiversity Harbour Label) thanks to what have been put in place to protect the environment. But to go further in the process, it is necessary for everyone to make an effort by systematically using the equipment available.