Represented in Brest Nicolas Maslach, Romain Renoux, and Julien Chalifour represented the Réserve naturelle de Saint-Martin at the 3rd national symposium for marine protected areas (MPA),
which took place in Brest on October 6-8, 2015. Under the aegis of the Minister of Ecology, this symposium is organized once every three years by the agency for protected marine zones and the world union for nature conservation. Over 500 professionals concerned by the protection and uses of the marine milieu participated in this event: managers, socio-professionals, scientists, politicians, representatives of government services, associations from all across France and its ultramarine territories. In addition to technical exchanges, this symposium allowed for an updated report, at the halfway point, on the national strategy for the creation and management of protected marine zones (2010-2020) and to reinforce the efficiency of the management of the MPA network in order to allow France to keep its national and international promises in terms of the quality and quantity of the marine protected areas. Organized by more then 50 partner organizations, the 24 ateliers discussed the operational management of the marine protected areas in terms of financing, practices, and et de governance.