Reinforced measures in response to the rise in accidents

With just a few days to go before the summer season, the maritime authorities of the Méditerranée have drawn lessons from a year 2025 marked by a sharp increase in rescue activity. This year's water sports safety campaign will be structured around two major pillars, prevention and enforcement, with special attention paid to swimming and scuba diving. The goal is to make users accountable and punish dangerous behaviour to prevent further tragedies.

ACCIDENTS ON THE RISE IN 2025 The figures from May to October 2025 served as an alarm signal for State services at sea. “The Méditerranée coast, whose attractiveness remains strong, experienced a 14% increase in rescue operations conducted by the CROSS Méditerranée under the authority of the maritime prefect,” detailed the maritime prefect. This increase was accompanied by a resurgence of supervised, not overestimating one's physical abilities, closely supervising children, and finding out about specific local hazards.

“You have a certain number of phenomena that can be dangerous, I am thinking in particular of the Hérault side or in Corse, sorts of surging waves,” he recalled. To enhance safety, a telephone alert system for dangerous waves, already successfully trialled in Occitanie and Corse, will be deployed during the year in the Var and Bouches-du-Rhône. This alert in optimal safety conditions.

At-sea checks, dubbed “opérations palanquées”, will be organised to verify that diving instructors and practitioners scrupulously respect procedures and have the appropriate equipment. New practices such as paddleboarding or light sailing activities are also receiving increased attention. cool off without always taking the necessary precautions.

In contrast, the assessment reveals a 10% decrease in overall accidents and an encouraging 33% reduction in the number of diving deaths, the result of past prevention efforts that will be renewed.

DROWNING AND SCUBA DIVING Drowning remains one of the main causes of accidental death. In light of this, prevention focuses on common-sense rules: choosing swim areas will make it possible to inform users in real time of the presence of an imminent danger on the coast. Although the 2025 figures are improving, scuba diving remains a high-risk activity requiring constant vigilance, especially at the start of the season.

In-depth work is being carried out with federations and clubs to guarantee a resumption of activity of checks, which will be regular, visible, and assumed all along the coast,” warns the maritime authority. Targeted operations will take place in highly frequented and high-risk areas. Dangerous behaviour, particularly excessive speeds in regulated zones, will be punished with zero tolerance.

The triptych “prepare, equip, and know how to alert” forms the foundation of the prevention campaign. But pedagogy will be accompanied by unwavering firmness on the water.

“There will be Finally in Marseille, after the serious accident that occurred a few years ago, a new safety measure is already in force at the entrance to the Parc National des Calanques. A prefectoral decree has been signed to extend the limited speed zone near Cap Croisette, a narrow and highly frequented passage.

Speed is now limited to 15 knots over a wider area to regulate traffic between the many vessels converging on the southern bay of Marseille or entering the Calanques, and thereby minimising the risk of collision.