The Maritime Gendarmerie is a specialized military detachment with a strength of about 1,100 soldiers, drawn from the Regional Gendarmerie (gendarmerie départementale), the Mobile Gendarmerie (gendarmerie mobile) and the Republican Guard (garde républicaine).
This detachment, with headquarters in Carrières-sur-Seine, near Paris, is distributed all over the coastal regions of Metropolitan France and French overseas territories.
It is made up of 3 units, 8 companies and 75 brigades and platoons in charge of surveillance. It has a fleet of fifty patrol boats and dispatch boats of 10 to 38 meters long, with anchorages distributed along the coast of Metropolitan France and in the DOM-TOM. It is also equipped with several dozens of inflatable rubber boats.
The Maritime Gendarmerie is assigned a dual mission - national defence and general seaborne police operations. As such, maritime gendarmes participate in the protection and surveillance of institutions, military sites, naval bases and national waters.
They monitor immigration, ensure wholesomeness, control fishing, and fight against clandestine activities, such as all sorts of trafficking and illegal work.