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On January 16, a few weeks after his arrival on the island, Philippe Chopin met the staff of the Réserve Naturelle it its offices in Anse Marcel.
The new prefect then embarked on the boat belonging to the Réserve, accompanied by his cabinet director Mathieu Doligez, the secretary general of the prefecture Afif Lazrac, and Pierre Leconte, the environmental engineer representing the prefecture in terms of sustainable development.
The prefect, who enjoys being on the water, discovered Rocher Créole, Tintamare, and Pinel, and was able to evaluate the missions and challenges of the Réserve, as well as the difficulties it faces in executing its functions.
Very sensitive to the preservation of natural resources, he appreciated the improvements that have been made - signage, moorings, picnic-tables, shelters, nature trails - and understood by observing the level of commercial activity around the islands that these protected areas - still far from becoming a sanctuary - represent a tool, and a real asset, in terms of the further development of tourism in Saint Martin.
On January 27, Romain Renoux and Béatrice Galdi, from the Littoral Conservancy, took Philippe Chopin and Mathieu Doligez on a field trip to discover the land-based aspects of the Réserve and the Littoral Conservancy.
They visited the Coralita site, along the shore and Galion Bay.
They both admired the eco-tourism improvements added here - the whale watching observatory, the shelters, the informational signage - and at the Carti site they were able to see an example of a site that had been seriously degraded and which Réserve plans to make a pilot site, opening it to scholars and to tourists.
This visit, scheduled a few days before the Réserve’s advisory committee meeting allowed the prefect to thoroughly comprehend all of the items on the agenda.
Coralita: a good site for cultural enrichment
Informational signage was added to the whale watching observatory and the two shelters opened in 2010 by the Littoral Conservancy at the important Coralita site, visited by numerous tourists, completing the improvements at this eco-tourism site.
A general information sign is located at the entry to the site, while a sign presenting the protected marine species can be found in each of the shelters.
Finally, three signs in the observatory explain the marine and land-based ecosystems as well as the good practices allowing the public to enrich its knowledge.
The Littoral Conservancy with support from Europe (FEDER) financed this project.
Oui likes the Réserve Naturelle
Oui Magazine, a chic quarterly about weddings, did not forget the Réserve Naturelle in its article “Saint Martin la chaleureuse”, written by Delphine Planchon and published in February 2012.
The journalist recommended that her readers visit the small islands of Tintamare, Pinel, and Caye Verte while underlining the importance of the flora and fauna that one can see on land and at sea within the boundaries of the Réserve.
Thank you, Oui!
Saint Martin for bird lovers
Nature lovers and bird watchers will be happy to discover the 24 beautiful drawings designed by Marie-Estelle Voisin, biologist, artist and resident of the island for the past 10 years. Presented in a booklet called “Saint Martin à vol d’oiseaux”, each drawing is accompanied by a detailed commentary about the bird that is pictured: how to recognize it, its feeding patterns and its reproductive behavior.
An observation guide and several maps encourage amateurs to get out the binoculars to observe the Great Egret, the Grey Plover, the Yellow- crowned Night Heron or the Pied-billed Grebe. For beginners, this is a good way to encounter the salt ponds and the shoreline, exceptional homes for a certain number of protected species.
The Réserve Naturelle and the Littoral Conservancy joined forces with the author to help fund this booklet as part of their mission of environmental education.
It is available at the Maison de la Réserve at Anse Marcel and will be for sale shortly in the island’s bookstores.
“Rivages d’outre-mer:” the Conservancy in far-away France
2011 was the year of Overseas France and the perfect opportunity for the Littoral Conservancy to prepare the publication of “Rivages d’outre-mer” (Overseas Shores), which has been on sale in bookstores since early 2012. With 80 pages and several hundred beautiful photographs emblematic of the shores of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, this book retraces the ongoing activities of the Conservancy for the past 30 years in the eight Overseas Collectivities, including Saint Martin.
The presentation of each collectivity is personalized by the observations of a resident - Kate Richardson in Saint Martin, for example - and his or her vision about the necessity to protect the coasts and the emotions that these exceptional sites evoke on a personal basis. A book that is perfect for everyone, naturally.
