The announcement of the financing by public money of two mooring buoys for giant yachts in the Gulf of Ajaccio arouses the indignation of ecological associations.
Using the government’s “green fund” to install mooring buoys for giant yachts in the Gulf of Ajaccio, Michelle Salotti still cannot believe it. “It is completely abnormal to use an ecological transition fund for operations that are anti-ecological”protests this member of U Levante, a Corsican association for the protection of nature.
Endowed with two billion euros, the “green fund”, created last summer, is supposed to finance projects in the areas of environmental performance, adaptation of the territory to climate change and improvement of the life. The first 150 winners of this fund were presented on Monday April 3 by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.
“These boats pollute a lot, they consume a lot of fuel”, don’t get mad at Michelle Salotti. “Using public funds for these boats is absolutely outrageous!” denounces the activist.
Preserving biodiversity
According to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, these mooring areas are built to prevent yachts from going to put their anchors everywhere, which destroys the fields of Posidonia seagrass. “Currently, the Corsican island ports, which are insufficiently equipped, are unable to respond to the increasing frequentation of luxury yachts (over 24 meters)”, argues the ministry in a statement Monday evening.
A position also defended by Agnès Pannier-Runacher on Wednesday April 5 on franceinfo. The Minister for the Ecological Transition, while recalling that this is not the file of her ministry, ensures that this “serves to preserve the biodiversity of Corsican waters”especially Posidonia.
This is how the State justifies the investment of 521,000 euros for this project of two mooring lockers, eco-designed in the Gulf of Ajaccio and supported by the island’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry . In total, it will cost 664,000 euros. These two chests must allow yachts to moor without dropping anchor, thus preserving “one hectare of posidonia meadows”according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, a surface that can “capture as much CO2 as 15 hectares of tropical forest”, according to a Unesco report from March 2021, he argues.
“In the precarious situation in which the Corsican population is, because we are still the poorest region of France, giving money to favor very well-off people is incredible.”
Michelle Salotti, thousand of U Levanteat franceinfo
The two mooring areas will also be exclusively reserved for floating palaces. Swimming and small boats will be prohibited around. In short, enough to cause a lot of anger in Corsica. Local elected officials and the prefecture have planned to speak during the week.
Buoys for yachts financed by the “green fund” in Corsica – A report by Boris Loumagne
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