The results of the 2024 campaign are highly satisfying

Hervé Stassinos, the mayor, launched this edition on the premises of the Centre de plongée des Oursinières. The Ville du Pradet, at the origin of this initiative to preserve the marine ecosystem, gathered around itself the associations Telo Sub, Naturoscope, the Centre de Plongée du Pradet, the Parc national de Port-Cros, and numerous volunteers.

FOR 20 YEARS

"For more than twenty years, the municipality has been mobilizing to prevent the proliferation of this alga, which depletes the Mediterranean ecosystem and in particular our Posidonia meadows. With my team, we are proud to have been continuing this action for 10 years now. The result is clear, as the Garonne bay shows incredible diversity and richness," enthused Hervé Stassinos. At the end of the campaign, Eric Pironneau, a member of the association Telo Sub and coordinator of the operation, emphasized: "The interest and motivation of the divers exceeded all our expectations. Very many volunteers turned out for this 2024 campaign and carried out around a hundred dives. A big thank you to them!" Departing from the port des Oursinières, the dives set the pace for the daily lives of the volunteers in the Garonne bay, who were searching for traces of Caulerpa taxifolia and also surveyed the biodiversity, which is very rich on this part of the coastline. The results of the 2024 campaign are highly satisfying. No traces were found in the study area (Garonne bay up to a depth of 20 m) but two patches were observed at the edge of this area where the depth exceeds 20 meters. This shows that we must not relax our efforts and must remain vigilant! •

If you notice the presence of Caulerpa taxifolia in the marine environment, please do not touch it and contact the Ville's environment department (04 94 08 69 64) or the Parc national de Port-Cros (04 94 12 82 30), specifying its location.