Pampelonne redrawn: where your yacht may lie off Saint-Tropez has moved
The order
Arrete Prefectoral number 177/2026 was signed in Toulon on 3 June 2026 by the prefet maritime de la Mediterranee and came into effect on 24 June. It reorganises anchoring and mooring in the bay at Pampelonne, the stretch of coast that carries the beach clubs south of Saint-Tropez and one of the densest concentrations of large yachts anywhere in the Mediterranean in August.
The headline change is a reclassification. The western anchoring area that had been designated for vessels of 45 to 80 metres is now a 24 to 45 metre zone, and it has been folded into the ZMEL, the light moorings and equipment zone. That is a buoyed field of around 210 moorings, and it now sits under the authority of Ramatuelle's municipal police.
What that means by size
Vessels under 24 metres are excluded from the buoyed mooring areas. Yachts between 24 and 45 metres are permitted in designated sandy areas. Yachts between 45 and 80 metres have been moved to the eastern zone. Yachts of 80 metres and above now anchor separately from the 45 to 80 metre band, with boundaries clarified between Cap Pinet and the Pointe de la Bonne Terrasse.
The mooring sectors within the ZMEL have also been adjusted for buoy positions, the number of moorings available and the maximum vessel length each sector will take. An owner whose captain has anchored in the same spot for five seasons should assume the spot has changed hands. Anchoring on Posidonia meadows remains prohibited at any length.
The charts are behind
The order is in force and the nautical charts have not been updated to reflect it. That gap matters more than it sounds. A bridge team working from an electronic chart that shows the old zone boundaries will place the yacht correctly according to the display and incorrectly according to the law.
The practical instruction is that the arrete, and not the chart, is the reference for this bay this summer. Anyone planning a Pampelonne stop should have the current text and the current ZMEL sector plan aboard, and should confirm with the local authority where a yacht of their length is now expected to lie.
The wider enforcement picture
A report published on 9 July 2026 by Swiss Ocean Tech, which builds anchor-drag monitoring equipment, surveyed anchoring rules across France, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Turkiye, Malta, Cyprus and Monaco. It concluded that France runs the most detailed framework in the region, with size thresholds spread across the 20 to 80 metre range, and that Malta and Cyprus have no single nationwide rule at all.
It also sets out the French penalties. Under Article L5242-2 of the Code des transports, breaches of maritime rules can carry up to a year of imprisonment and a fine of EUR 150,000, and damage to protected species or habitats up to three years and EUR 150,000, with further penalties possible inside national park zones and separate compensation for ecological damage. The report cites WWF research putting more than 179,000 vessels over Mediterranean seagrass in 2024.
What an owner should take from it
France is not the only country tightening. The Swiss Ocean Tech report notes that Spain introduced Royal Decree 191/2026 to protect seagrass meadows, while Croatia, Italy, Greece and Turkiye govern anchoring mainly through local authorities, which is harder to research and easier to fall foul of.
For a Saint-Tropez week in August the sequence is simple enough. Establish which zone the yacht's length puts her in under the new order, book or confirm the mooring if she now falls inside the ZMEL, and give the captain written authority to move if the assigned position is over Posidonia. The fine is charged to the vessel, and the ecological damage claim follows the owner.