Art against pollution

«Ghost nets,» or fishing nets abandoned in the ocean, constitute a serious danger for marine animals, many of which get caught in the webbing and die

In the north of Australia, this phenomenon led to a new art form among the native peoples, who transformed this fatal debris into art objects and gained the admiration of an international audience during a traveling exhibit. Made aware of this project by one of their teachers, four students - including one from Saint Martin - in the master’s program for the «Management of International Multi-Lingual Projects” at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale, decided to bring this exhibit to Saint Martin as their final project. To do so, they created the association, CultuWide. As they had already presented their project to Nicolas Maslach in 2015, in Brest, during the third national colloquium on protected marine sites, the Réserve Naturelle supported their efforts, along with other partners such as the Tourist Office and the Collectivité. The exhibit was inaugurated on May 12, 2016 at the CCISM, with a discussion on May 13 and a film the next day. But the students’ efforts didn’t stop there: two days after their arrival on the island, they organized a clean up on the beach in Grandes Cayes. Their spoils: 18 large garbage bags of trash, including three fishing nets!