The roadstead of Brest (''rade de Brest'') is a roadstead or bay located in the

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

department in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

in northwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. The surface area is about 180 km² (70 sq mi). The port of

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

and one of the two French

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that u ...

s, Brest Arsenal, are located on its northern edge. It is linked to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

(called the

Iroise Sea Iroise () or the Iroise Sea (french: mer d'Iroise ; br, An Hirwazh) is the part of the Atlantic Ocean which stretches from the Ile de Sein to Ushant off the coast of Brittany in north-western France. It is contained within the Celtic Sea, borderin ...

at this point) by the '' Goulet de Brest'', a strait about 1.8 km wide. Three main rivers drain into the roadstead: the

Penfeld The Penfeld,The ''d'' was added in the 17th century by a naval engineer influenced by the German word ''feld'' - the name is masculine in the Breton language. ( Breton: ''Penfell'') is a French coastal river. The town of Brest, in Finistère, has ...

(the town of Brest and the first buildings of the naval base were built on its banks), the Élorn (or river of Landerneau) and the Aulne (or river of

Châteaulin Châteaulin (; br, Kastellin) is a commune in the Finistère department and administrative region of Brittany in north-western France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Geography Châteaulin is located in a valley towards the center of ...

Strategic importance

For a number of centuries, Brest has been an important military port. The easily defensible roadstead of Brest therefore has a number of military installations, for example: *Brest arsenal, on the north of the bay; *the submarine base of the

Île Longue Île Longue ( French for "Long Island") is a peninsula of the roadstead of Brest in the department of Finistère in the Brittany region. It is the base of the SNLE, the French ballistic missile submarines, and as such one of the most secretive ...

, to the south-west; *the

École Navale École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

naval college and the Poulmic association of schools at Lanvéoc; *the naval 'graveyard' for ships at Landévennec. One can also find many remains of old military fortifications and other ruins from past centuries, like the forts at Portzic, at pointe des Espagnols, etc.

Islands within the roadstead of Brest

* Plougastel Daoulas ** Île Ronde * Logonna Daoulas ** Île de la Pointe du Château ** Îles du Bindy * Hôpital-Camfrout **

Île de Tibidy Tibidy (Latin - ''insula Thopopegya'' or ''insula Thopepigia'') is a French islet at the mouth of the river Faou, at the bottom of the roadstead of Brest, on land belonging to the commune of L'Hôpital-Camfrout. Its highest point is 15m. The isla ...

* Rosnoën ** Île d'Arun ** Île de Térénez *

Crozon Crozon (, ; br, Kraozon, , ) is a commune in the department of Finistère and the administrative region of Brittany, northwestern France. As well as the town of Crozon, the village of Morgat is part of the commune. Crozon is located on the Cr ...

** Île du Renard ** Île Trébéron ** Île des Morts ** Île Perdue

Rivers flowing into the roadstead of Brest

* Élorn *the river of Daoulas * Aulne *the river of Faou

Environment

Thanks to its layout, the roadstead harbours a wide diversity of natural habitats and a high level of biodiversity. It also includes many sites of importance for birds, several networks of habitats and underwater corridors and coastal areas of importance. These areas have been greatly affected by the human activities in the north-west, but have justified the classification of around half of the roadstead as a zone in Natura 2000.

Pollution

The rich ecology of the roadstead has been diminished by the past exploitation of certain resources, and by the presence of a number of pollutants including heavy metals and

tributyltin Tributyltin (TBT) is an umbrella term for a class of organotin compounds which contain the (C4H9)3 Sn group, with a prominent example being tributyltin oxide. For 40 years TBT was used as a biocide in anti-fouling paint, commonly known as bo ...

which were used as biocides in

anti-fouling Biofouling or biological fouling is the accumulation of microorganisms, plants, algae, or small animals where it is not wanted on surfaces such as ship and submarine hulls, devices such as water inlets, pipework, grates, ponds, and rivers that ...

bottom paints. These products are now illegal, but they remain present in sediments and certain organisms. The products which have replaced them for small boats (e.g. Diuron and Irgarol) pose similar problems and have been measured in non-negligible quantities in the roadstead by

Ifremer IFREMER (Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer; ) is an oceanographic institution in Brest, France. Scope of works Ifremer focuses its research activities in the following areas: * Monitoring, use and enhancement of coa ...

in 2003-2004.Doc d'Ifremer sur la toxicité du Diuron et de l'Irgarol 1051 sur ''Chaetoceros gracilis'' (diatomée marine)
/ref> The roadstead is also a victim of the after-effects of war, and in particular the waves of pollution from the First and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

s. Pollutants trapped in submerged or unexploded

munitions Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

are expected to aggravate existing pollution with the first large leaks predicted by experts to occur in the years 2000-2010.

Notes and references

External links

Aerial view
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roadstead Of Brest Geography of Brest, France History of Brest, France Brest, roadstead