At Cerbère-Banyuls, France’s first exclusively marine national nature reserve, created in 1974, there is a 65-hectare area where no one dives. Neither with tanks nor freediving.
The rest of the reserve welcomes divers, with an annual permit and rules written in black and white. And this is where the real question arises: does your diving help the reserve, or is it the rule that does all the work?
We have revisited the previous version of this article, verified what holds true, and removed what was mere slogan. Here is what remains, supported by texts and studies.
What changes in the water when an area becomes a reserve?
In a marine reserve, certain human activities are limited or prohibited within a perimeter set by an official text. Depending on the site, this targets fishing, hunting, anchoring, or diving. The level of protection varies greatly from one area to another, and it is this that determines the effects you can expect to observe.
The word “reserve” thus covers very different realities. Only the text is authoritative.
A marine protected area may tolerate almost everything, with some fishing limits. A no-take reserve, on the other hand, closes an area to all extraction. Between the two, there are mixed zoning areas, like at Cerbère-Banyuls, where a small enhanced protection zone closed to divers borders a larger perimeter where scuba diving remains possible under conditions. Yet, brochures often use the same word for all these. A diver may then believe they are entering a sanctuary.
Before booking a dive trip, ask the club what exact status the day’s site has.
Are there really more fish in a marine reserve?
Yes, when the protection is strong. A synthesis by Enric Sala and Sylvaine Giakoumi, published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science in 2018, estimates fish biomass on average 670% higher in no-take reserves than in unprotected areas. In partially protected areas, the gap falls to 183% and often disappears.
The figure is impressive. But it should be read with caution.
It is an average drawn from many studies, and your next site may differ greatly. The same authors also compare no-take reserves to partially protected areas and find biomass 343% higher in the former, showing that the ban on extraction produces most of the observed effect. An area where fishing continues often resembles the neighboring coast. This says nothing about water clarity. And it guarantees no specific encounter on the day you dive, whatever the season.
In short, more fish on average, yes, but no guaranteed meeting with a grouper or a turtle.
What rules await you at Cerbère-Banyuls, Port-Cros, and Scandola?
Each reserve has its own regulations, and differences between two neighboring sites can be large. At Cerbère-Banyuls, scuba diving requires an annual permit. At Port-Cros, it is forbidden without authorization from the national park, to be requested via its CaPeL portal. At Scandola, scuba diving is prohibited and only freediving remains open to the public.
| Site | Status | Scuba Diving | Hunting and Fishing | Anchoring |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cerbère-Banyuls (Pyrénées-Orientales) | National nature reserve, 1974 | Prohibited in the enhanced protection zone, annual permit elsewhere, buoyancy vest mandatory | Spearfishing prohibited, recreational fishing by permit | Prohibited in the enhanced protection zone and organized anchoring zones |
| Port-Cros (Var) | National park, 1963 | Prohibited without authorization (CaPeL portal), maximum 40 divers simultaneously per site | Spearfishing prohibited, recreational fishing very limited in marine core | Anchoring prohibited in organized anchoring zone, mooring on devices above seagrass beds |
| Scandola (Corsica) | Nature reserve, 1975 | Prohibited, freediving only allowed to the public | Recreational fishing and spearfishing prohibited | Daytime only, no overnight on site |
These rules come from texts consulted on October 3, 2026. They are subject to change.
Thus, the 2022 prefectural decree on Cerbère-Banyuls replaced the 2020 one, capping annual authorizations at 20 commercial structures, 20 associative structures, and 500 individual divers, which sometimes makes an impromptu outing in the middle of summer impossible. The same text requires the use of a buoyancy compensator to limit fin strikes on fauna and flora. Poorly adjusted, it does the opposite. Hence the importance of properly adjusting your buoyancy compensator before diving. At the port, the club remains your best source for knowing the status of the regulations.
In Corsica, the Cerbicale Islands, classified as a nature reserve, are often visited from Porto-Vecchio, and the profile of Hippocampe Plongée, a professional center in Porto-Vecchio gathers what is known about its outings.
In southern Brittany, ask the same questions to CIP Glénan, an emblematic club of southern Brittany: site status, closed zones, mooring instructions.
How to dive in a reserve without damaging what it protects?
Don’t touch anything, maintain your buoyancy, and follow the site’s regulations. At Cerbère-Banyuls, any physical contact with the substrate or species is prohibited by the 2022 prefectural decree. At Port-Cros, feeding fish, turning over rocks, or touching the bottom is also forbidden. In practice, buoyancy makes the difference.
The principle is simple. The gesture is less so.
However, a diver struggling with their weight belt may brush the bottom without realizing it. They stir up sediment, grab a rock to stabilize themselves, then kick a seagrass bed as they leave, and none of this shows in the photo they bring back from the site. A cloud of sand falls back on the attached organisms. The fish move away. No one sees it.
The rules of a respectful dive of marine life apply everywhere, reserve or not.
Also keep a distance from animals, even if they are immobile. The reasons are detailed in our article on why you should never touch marine life, from fish skin to corals that break at the slightest pressure.
Does diving in a reserve really help the planet?
Your dive alone protects nothing. What protects is the rule, its enforcement, and the time users accept to give it. The previous version of this article attributed a share of the world’s oxygen to reserves. We removed that sentence, which mixed the entire ocean with a few hundred hectares protected.
Your role still exists. It is more modest.
However, a well-recorded observation can be useful. Citizen science programs give a concrete use to what you see, provided you follow their protocol and do not collect anything, as explained in our article on the role of citizen divers in ocean protection. Authorization quotas say something else. A reserve also protects by limiting the number of visitors, including well-intentioned divers who think they cause no damage. This is intentional.
In our opinion, the best service to render remains discreet: respect the quotas and accept that a site may be closed.
The concrete cost is a bit less flexibility. An authorization to request in advance for Banyuls, a limited slot per site at Port-Cros, a day of freediving instead of a scuba dive at Scandola. For many divers, the trade-off remains favorable, but it is up to you to weigh it before booking your dates.
FAQ
Is an authorization required to dive in the Cerbère-Banyuls reserve?
Yes. According to the 2022 prefectural decree, scuba diving outside the reinforced protection zone requires an annual authorization issued by the reserve. In the reinforced protection zone, scuba diving and freediving are prohibited.
Can you scuba dive in the Scandola reserve?
No. Scuba diving is prohibited there, and only freediving remains open to the public. Recreational fishing and spearfishing are also forbidden in the reserve.
Is spearfishing allowed in the Port-Cros National Park?
No, it is prohibited throughout the park. Scuba diving requires authorization, with a maximum of 40 divers at the same time per site.
Does a marine reserve guarantee seeing more fish?
On average, fish biomass is significantly higher in no-take reserves than in unprotected areas. But this is an average, and no specific encounter is guaranteed on the day of your dive.
Sources
- No-take marine reserves are the most effective protected areas in the ocean (Sala and Giakoumi, ICES Journal of Marine Science, 2018)
- Prefectoral decree no. 005/2022, regulations of the Cerbère-Banyuls marine natural reserve (Mediterranean maritime prefecture, 2022)
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