Framework
Governing: AP 123/2019 (3 Jun 2019), AP 77/2025 (15 Apr 2025). Builds on: your COLREG and chartwork.
Why the préfet maritime
At sea off France the State is represented by the préfet maritime, a flag officer with general police powers. Anchoring and stopping are treated as navigation matters, so they are his to regulate. In the Mediterranean he did it in two layers: one framework order, AP 123/2019, and a set of local orders, département by département, that draw the actual lines.
The press kit is candid about the reason. Posidonia meadows grow from the surface to about 40 m, the rhizomes spread roughly 1 cm a year, and the anchors and chains of large vessels were identified as the main physical cause of damage. Posidonia has been a protected species since 1988.
What AP 123/2019 says
| Point | Rule |
|---|---|
| Who | French and foreign flags alike (foreign ships subject to innocent passage) |
| Where | Internal and territorial waters of the Mediterranean coast |
| Not covered | Inside port limits, estuaries upstream of the sea limit, the Marseille port regulation zone, ZMELs and authorised buoys (except security measures) |
| Anchoring (mouillage) | Holding the vessel with an anchor resting on the seabed |
| Stopping (arrêt) | Lying to a buoy, and dynamic positioning |
| Environment | No anchoring that may damage a habitat of protected marine plants |
| Contact | VHF, or phone if no VHF, with the sémaphore or CROSS at all times |
| AIS | Ships required to carry it keep it running at anchor |
| Security | Arrivals from outside Schengen (Monaco excepted) report on entering French waters if they intend to stop or anchor |
| Local detail | Zones and length thresholds set by local orders per département |
Two points catch people out. First, a buoy is not an anchorage: you are 'stopped', and a different set of rules applies. Second, the order leaves the master responsible for the vessel at anchor, whatever an agent or the beach club says.
How long you may stay: AP 77/2025
Anchoring is legally a temporary interruption of navigation, and AP 77/2025 puts numbers on it.
| Vessel | Limit |
|---|---|
| Needs authorisation (yachts 80 m+, other ships ≥45 m or ≥300 GT) | 24 h initially, renewable by 24 h slots (safety, health, commercial or technical reasons, yachting included), 72 h in total |
| Yachts 80 m+, 1 May–30 Sep, outside the grande rade de Toulon | CROSS may grant 72 h, renewable by 72 h |
| Everyone else | 72 h at one spot |
| After 72 h, under 24 m and no AIS | Leave as soon as weather allows; no return within 500 m |
| After 72 h, 24 m+ or with AIS | May extend by 72 h slots unless told to leave |
The limits do not apply in force majeure, distress, dangerous weather or to give assistance. The authority may also cut the 72 h short by formal notice for safety, order or environmental reasons.
TIP — Read the date on the order Duration rules have been rewritten three times since 2022. Quote the number and date of the order you rely on in your passage plan.
Where the texts live
Every order is published in the préfecture maritime's online recueil des actes administratifs, searchable by number, year, département and theme ('Mouillages', 'Plans de balisage'), with an 'in force only' filter. Consolidated versions show which later orders amended them. That register, and current SHOM charts, are your primary sources; nothing else is.