Abstract
Within the Camargue area, a 30 kilometer coastal linear strip is used either temporarily by rough campers (Piémanson), or permanently by small house users (Beauduc). For the sake of the Maritime Public Domain (MPD), the State authorities wish to get rid of that clearly illegal occupancy. A sociological and ethnological approach shows the social and symbolical logics that underlie such usages of the coast and that illustrate a frequent conflict in environment between administrative standards and social habits.