Maritime prefect

As of 2025, there are three maritime prefects in metropolitan France, based in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Channel and North Sea), Brest (Atlantic Ocean) and Toulon (Mediterranean Sea).

Two additional maritime prefects were based in Rochefort until 1927 and Lorient until 1941.

Maritime prefectures exist in each of the five overseas departments of France, but are administered by the departments' respective prefects: Cayenne for French Guiana, Basse-Terre for Guadeloupe, Fort-de-France for Martinique, Saint-Denis for Réunion and Mamoudzou for Mayotte.

It is vested with "authority in all areas where State action is exercised at sea".

[1] The maritime prefect has general police powers and oversees the defense of sovereign rights and the interests of the Nation, the maintenance of public order, the safeguarding of persons and property, the protection environment and the coordination of the fight against illicit activities.