Marine habitats protected as St Barth hosts record number of yachts

Marine habitats protected as St Barth hosts record number of yachts © Saint-Barth Tourisme

St Barth's celebrated the 2025 festive season with a record-breaking 342 visiting boats in the Port de Gustavia, surpassing the previous 2024 record of 313 and reinforcing the island's position as one of the Caribbean's most desired yachting destinations.

Across the Holiday period, the port registered 3,384 crew members and 1,810 passengers, bringing a total of 5,194 people through the island's waters.

This season, captains were supported by newly enhanced marine management tools as yachts of all sizes - from 30 to over 100 metres - safely navigated and anchored around the island. The initiative, led by the Agence Territoriale de l'Environnement (ATE), was recently completed with the first phase providing seabed-mapping to reduce the environmental impact of anchoring and support more informed navigation on approach to the island.

Sensitive marine habitats have been identified and integrated into the DONIA application, a digital tool widely used by large yachts and superyachts in the Mediterranean to avoid Posidonia seagrass meadows. The tool serves as a practical decision-making aid for captains navigating outside the Nature Reserve, where environmentally important habitats extend beyond formal protection zones. This additional layer of information supports best practice and further reduces anchoring-related damage to the seabed.

Further reinforcing this commitment, St Barth is part of the SEA Index® network - a global initiative to promote more sustainable practices. The SEA Index® provides objective, internationally recognised tools which are aligned with International Maritime Organisation and European Union methodologies to assess and compare the environmental impact of yachts.

Through this partnership, St Barth actively promotes sustainable yachting by highlighting lower-impact vessels welcomed into the Port of Gustavia and is working towards the implementation of incentive mechanisms designed to encourage the arrival of more environmentally efficient yachts. These commitments form part of a shared roadmap developed in collaboration with the wider yachting community.

Alexandra Questel, President of the Saint-Barthélemy Tourism Board, commented "The high-end yachting and nautical sector is a true pillar of our local economy and the New Year period highlights the importance of this activity for the protection of St Barth. As we welcome yachts of all sizes, it is pivotal that growth is accompanied by responsibility."

Questel adds "Tools such as DONIA support captains in anchoring safely whilst initiatives such as our Educational Marine Area - which is led by local schoolchildren - help to embed marine awareness and stewardship from an early age, ensuring long-term protection of the waters that benefit our economy."

This milestone demonstrates how St Barth continues to expertly integrate operational excellence with environmental leadership - highlighted by the record number of yachts that were welcomed safely in 2025 whilst ensuring best practices across the island's waters.