Newsletter-24

The third session of the Negara program - as in Negaprion, the scientific name for the lemon shark - took place from May 18-23, 2015, once again under the leadership of Oceane Beaufort, an expert in this large cartilaginous fish currently seen in their juvenile stage along the island’s beaches, where they come into more frequent contact with swimmers. A team from the Réserve Naturelle and this young scientist turned their attention to the lagoon south of the small island of Tintamare, where they tested a fishnet acquired by the Réserve Naturelle, in the hopes of capturing a lemon shark without hurting it. This technique is less aggressive than fishing with a hook, but is sometimes difficult to succeed in a rocky zone or where there is a lot of sargassum seaweed. Only one shark was caught and was marked twice: once on its fin and with a chip under its skin. The absence of juvenile lemon sharks marked at this site in 2014 remains a mystery. Did they migrate? Were they victims of hurricane Gonzalo or of a predator? The interest in marking the sharks lies in the hope of getting answers to the many questions that we have about this little-know species.

The Conservatoire du Littoral has instituted a two-phase restoration project for the Babit Point site at Oyster Pond. The first phase has been completed, with the demolition of a house in ruins and closing of the site to restrict access by vehicles. The second phase, which consists of enhancing the natural beauty of the site, will take place at a later date, in accordance with all of the residents of the neighborhood.

A total of 54 rats were trapped in two weeks on Tintamare as well as 23 rats and 6 mice in one week on Pinel, during a special campaign to capture them held in July 2015. These numbers are lower than those of a similar operation in 2013, during which 268 rats were killed on Tintamare, and 78 rats and 41 mice on Pinel. The reduction of food due to drought conditions is a probable cause for the reduced presence of these rodents on the two islands. At the same time, on Pinel, the restaurateurs have been better treating their garbage and discarded food and act on their side to regulate the population of rodents. Non-indigenous species, rats and mice love the eggs of birds and sea turtles. On Tintamare, the rats attack the gaïacs, as they like the seeds. This project, coordinated by the Réserve, was made possible thanks to the work of interns Nathan Leroy and Thierry Mordon- Constant.

On June 27, 2015, the animal refuge for the association, Pawsitive,
located in the Réserve Naturelle along the Route du Galion, was once again cited for having cleared trees on a protected site within the Réserve Naturelle without authorization. In addition, they also put up an enclosure: work done without any authorization

Sargassum seaweed… a big subject of conversation these days, for which the Collectivity of Saint Martin knows it must find a sustainable solution. In October 21, 2015, the Réserve Naturelle, which called for meetings all of concerned agencies -the prefecture, the Collectivity, and also the Regional Health Agency (ARS), due to health risks linked to the emission of H2S gas - organized the formation of “green brigades” to find the best solution to treat these mountains of algae that have been continually invading the windward coasts of Saint Martin. It is necessary to spread and dry the sargassum for three or four days so that it loses up to 80% of its volume, before transporting it to the eco-site at Grandes Cayes. As this drying process requires a large surface, the Conservatoire has proposed providing space along the Saline in Orient.

On June 25 and 26, 2015, the top managers of protected marine zones in the French Antilles met at the Hotel Mercure with one goal in mind: to keep moving forward in the right direction. The Réserve Naturelle of Saint Martin was represented in force, along with the Conservatoire du Littoral, the Environmental Agency of Saint Barth, the Parc National de Guadeloupe, the AGOA sanctuary, and the Environmental Agencies (DEAL) from Martinique and Guadeloupe. The goal of this regional forum, derived from a similar national forum, was to get all of the major players in this sector in contact so that they can share their experiences and their knowledge, and pool their information for the best means of conservation. Approximately 20 subjects were on the agenda, including the new law on biodiversity intended to avoid, reduce, and compensate for damage done to nature, with an accent on the Caribbean. For example, this new notion of «compensation» can be seen in the project for a large maritime port in Guadeloupe, which includes measures of restoration such as the transfer of coral colonies threatened by the new access channel. A presentation was also made about the creation of a network that would keep track of the health of the protected marine zones in the Northern Islands - Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Saint Barth, Anguilla, Saba, and Saint Eustache - in order to improve results, and coordinate and simplify the work of the managers who are all confronting the same issues in an isolated manner. Also on the agenda was the topic of the usage - or the over-usage - of protected marine zones by the public. This atelier look to establish optimal specifications taking into account the delicate balance between the capacity of these sites in terms of visitors, maintaining activities that feed the economy, and the conservation of the eco-systems.

The REMMOA program - whose initials represent the French for «census of marine mammals and other pelagic species by aerial observation»- was launched in the Antilles in 2008, by the Agency for Protected Marine Areas. It continued in 2016 for a six-weeks, between August and October. The goal of this national program is to improve knowledge about certain species, such as marine mammals and birds, rays, sharks, and marine turtles, in order to reinforce their protection. Following the end of the first phase of the project, in which data was collected, the second phase will take place in the various marine zones covered by REMMOA - Martinique, Dominique, Guadeloupe, Saint Barth, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Saba, Statia - and comprises a second aerial reconnaissance. The comparison between the results of these two phases will allow for an estimation of the evolution of the populations of these different species and provide useful information on the quality of the marine milieu. This second phase began in the French Antilles, whose exclusive economic zone covers 143,256 square kilometers. The program also provides an idea of the distribution of human activities at sea - maritime traffic, pollution, fishing, etc - that might represent potential threats toward the pelagic species in the same zone. This campaign marks the first concrete technical and scientific exchanges with the Yarari Mammal And Shark Sanctuary (see inset) recently created by The Netherlands for the Dutch Caribbean, as well as with Dominica.

The government of Gibraltar invited the overseas British territories from around the world to meet on July 9-15, 2015 for the United Kingdom Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (UKOTCF).This event, which was last held in 2009 in the Cayman Islands, saw the participation of managers of protected British areas in the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, the North and South Atlantic, and the Caribbean basin. These territories have access to the European project BEST, through which the European Commission diffuses indispensable information for selecting and financing the “best” projects for the conservation of ultramarine biodiversity. Romain Renoux, responsible for project BEST for the 15 European territories of the Caribbean, as part of the European cooperation division of the Réserve Naturelle, presented a progress on his work for the identification of key biodiversity, as did his counterpart Maria Taylor, who is based in the Falkland Islands, for her southern Atlantic region. A major interest for this forum is to share common experiences - at the end of the day it is evident that the methodologies remain the same, even at distances of thousands of miles and in wildly differing environments.

The European Commission has launched BEST 2.0 and has reinforced its support for the protection of ultramarine biodiversity by offering new possibilities for financing to Overseas Countries and Territories (PTOM). In the Caribbean, this is good news for Saint Barthélemy, the five British Territories, and the six Dutch territories, as there is now 6 M€ available over a period of five years. Studies are underway for such Outermost Regions (ORs) as Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint Martin in the Caribbean to benefit from a similar initiative. Stay tuned… Of course, these RUP’s already have access to European funds, if their politicians consider protection of their environment as a major cornerstone of their political strategy. Let’s hope they make the right choice! Concerning the PTOM’s, a first call for projects has been launched, requesting about 400,000 € in aide. These projects will be evaluated by a committee of experts, then followed- up by Romain Renoux, Amandine Vaslet, and the project BEST team for the European territories of the Caribbean, as part of the regional cooperation division of the Réserve Naturelle of Saint Martin. Their mission will be to best advise the project leaders and to make sure that the financing corresponds to the issues identified during consultations with the local representatives in each territory. They will work in concert with Julie Belmont, a new recruit for BEST, based at CAR-SPAW in Guadeloupe and in charge of tracking the new projects as funded.