The Blue Flag is a label that annually promotes municipalities and marinas that are permanently pursuing a sustainable tourism development policy. Ports bearing the Blue Flag label are invested in the protection of the environment and more particularly the marine environment.
The 2019 ranking was announced on 22 May 2019 and rewarded 395 beaches in 188 labelled municipalities and 107 marinas. That is 13 new municipalities and 8 new marinas. With 502 labelled sites, France is the 3rd country with the highest number of Blue Flags behind Spain (672 sites) and Greece (534 sites).
We wanted to know what the advantages are for a port and for a Blue Flag sailor. Pascale Barrès, National Coordinator of the organization, answers our questions.
What is the advantage of a port to be labelled Blue Flag?
The Blue Flag allows them to have access to our specifications and to carry out an audit in terms of environmental management. This allows them to develop all the actions carried out in terms of environmental management (site management, waste management, etc.) and to stand out from other ports.
They also integrate our network of labelled ports and benefit from a rewarding communication at national and international level.
They can communicate on their side on the actions they develop (waste management in Glénans, chemical waste collection terminals in Douarnenez...). Within the label, we highly value - especially in the summer - the various actions of the Blue Flag ports.
What is the advantage for a yachtsman to choose a flag port Bleu??
This allows him to ensure that there will be a certain number of facilities within the port: waste sorting, a respectful fairing area with a wastewater recovery system.
This is a guarantee for them of a strong sensitivity to environmental management and the environment in general.
How does label?'s request work?
It is a voluntary process on the part of the port which submits a file to the organisation. If he meets the selection criteria, he obtains a label, awarded for one year.
According to which criteria do we obtain the Pavillon Bleu? label?
There are 4 main themes - Environmental education, waste management, environmental management and site management - with criteria to be respected. These are essentially mandatory criteria, which constitute the minimum required to obtain the Blue Flag that can be found in these themes. The guiding criteria are there to go further in the process and in the long term may become imperative.
Eco-station to promote alternative modes of transport (Gruissan Marina - Aude)
Does the number of labels change from year to year in année??
This is maintained compared to last year, but generally speaking is in an increase. It depends on the year, some are down and some are up.
Can a port lose its label??
The Blue Flag is part of a continuous improvement process. When a port embarks on the Blue Flag process, it is given recommendations to go further and complete the environmental process.
If he maintains his approach, there is no particular reason to lose his label. Afterwards, they may decide to stop services that are part of the mandatory procurement criteria and therefore lose the label.
All the labelled ports receive a control visit during the summer, from the jury that awards the label. The requirements can be made more stringent based on what has already been accomplished, so that they can continue to improve.
