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Holidays
Shells, sand, pebbles, driftwood... You can't pick everything up on the beaches
Publié le 19 juin 2024 - Mise à jour le 15 juillet 2025 - Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Do you intend to bring back pebbles from your holiday to redo your bathroom or decorate your garden, or driftwood to decorate your interior? Beware, there is a regulation that protects the fragile coastal ecosystem, with fines for damage to the public domain that can be very high.
The use of the beaches is free and free according to the Environment Code. However, collecting sand, pebbles or shells as holiday souvenirs is a practice that weakens the coastlines and is regulated by law with fines for offenders.
Article L.321-8 of the Environment Code states that ‘the extraction of materials [...] is limited or prohibited where it may directly or indirectly compromise the integrity of beaches, coastal dunes, cliffs, marshes [...]’.
Sand and shells
It is forbidden to collect sand on the beach. The Environment Code considers its removal to be an attack on the public maritime domain, weakening the coastlines. However, it is possible to collect “wind sand”: the one that has been moved out of the beach by the wind on the pavement or sidewalks.
Authorities may tolerate pickup when it is done in small quantities. The unreasonable levy, sometimes for commercial purposes, is liable to a fine of up to €1,500.
For empty shells, the restriction is the same as for sand.
The pebbles
On a beach, pebbles protect the fauna and flora from swell and erosion.
Stacked pebble clusters are fashionable but are not without danger to the coastal ecosystem.
Pebble gleaning can result in a fine of €1,500.
The flowers
The marine coastlines have a specific flora that grows only on the seashore and is classified as protected. Cutting these plants may be worth €150,000 fine for ‘damage to the conservation of uncultivated plant species’.
Driftwood
There are no official regulations for the collection of wood polished by water and brought back to the beaches by waves and tides.
The frosted glass
Sampling is allowed as it contributes to the cleanliness of the beach.
Shellfish
Do you like to pick up live shells to enjoy afterwards? Whether for environmental or health reasons, ask the town hall because the regulations may vary according to the departments.
FYI
The “sea leash” is what is left by the sea according to the movement of the waves, the flow and the ebb of the tides. It forms a band where living or living elements (cuttlefish bones, algae, sponges, dead wood) and debris from human activities (plastic bags, pieces of fishing nets, oil pellets) are accumulated.
When the “sea leash” is not too polluted, it constitutes a real ecosystem that participates in the life of the coast, sheltering many microorganisms that live in the sand, nourishing the plants that will contribute to retaining the sand, as well as insects, birds, crustaceans.
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