To promote the conservation of the coral reefs and related species

Action CS3 – Develop and test coral reef rehabilitation and associated species (priority 2)

Action IP6 – Contribute to the rehabilitation of coral reefs and seagrasses.

Action PR2 – Develop and enhance scientific collaborations (priority 1)

Following a call for projects initiated and funded by the French Biodiversity Office (OFB) to mitigate the anthropogenic pressures experienced by coral reefs, seagrasses, and mangroves, the ReCorEA Saint Martin project is led by the nature reserve, with Clément Bonnardel at the helm. This ambitious project also relies on financial support from Atout France and the Veolia Foundation. The work is planned in four phases:

• Updating the mapping by analyzing satellite images, coupled with a sociological survey of users of the area and a quantitative evaluation of nautical frequentation in the reserve.
• Reviewing and strengthening the mooring park for regulated uses.
• An assessment of the project’s impacts by monitoring the health of the beneficiary ecosystems.
• Support for the emergence of eco-responsible behaviors, by setting up public awareness actions and for schools, as well as the animation of participatory restoration workshops, for the conservation of mangroves.

At the end of the year 2023, the data collected in the field by the reserve has enabled the artificial intelligence, developed by their service provider iSea, to learn to recognize and map natural habitats from satellite images. A working version was delivered at the end of the year. This first draft requires corrections to better discriminate between the different types of environments selected by the partners. The analysis of these same satellite images also allows for the identification of the areas most frequented by boats and to know their size. These pieces of information will be essential to develop proposals for the architecture and sizing of the future mooring strategy in the reserve. In parallel, about a dozen maritime professionals shared their opinions with Clément Bonnardel regarding the infrastructure already present in the reserve. Where are there moorings? Do they use them? Do they consider them safe? Do they meet their needs? The survey continues among professionals, but also recreational boaters and institutions like the DEAL, the Directorate of the Sea, or the Gendarmerie Nautical Brigade. The beginning of the deployment of the new park is planned for the summer of 2024. The analysis of the satellite images also produced interesting results regarding the delineation of the coastline, by allowing the comparison of aerial photos dating from February 2017 with images taken in January 2023. Defined by the limit of vegetation or constructions, this coastline has receded by about thirty meters at some sites, but also advanced by a few meters at some rare others.

As part of the ReCorEA Saint Martin program, the replanting of mangrove seedlings from the reserve’s nursery continues around the Saline d’Orient and the Fish Pond, notably with the “educational marine areas” classes, or on the site of the “Mangrove Nursery” project by AGRNSM agents, but also thanks to the commercial company Seagrapes Tours, which invites its tourist clients to participate in the restoration of the mangrove. In parallel, 33 “eco-delegate” students from the Robert Weinum high school were made aware of the fragility of coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangroves during a visit between the Grandes Cayes beach, the mangrove nursery, the Saline d’Orient pond and the Embouchure bay. The next step of the project will be the implementation of a mangrove monitoring protocol, in connection with the tropical wetlands hub of the French Committee of IUCN, at the beginning of the year 2024.

Action IP4 : Develop and test coral rehabilitation and associated species

The European project Life BIODIV’OM for Saint Martin is coming to an end. Dedicated to the restoration of the Nassau grouper and the goliath grouper, it has been subject to regular monitoring committees, the last of which was held on December 7th by videoconference. It brought together Amandine Vaslet, PhD in ichthyology; Margot Mesnard, expert in sustainable development; Alexina Paya, expert in marine environment and Hadrien Bidenbach, manager of the One Shark SXM project. The following day, the steering committee of Life BIODIV’OM took place via videoconference, led by Aude Berger, project manager since its launch in 2018. She presented the progress and evolution of the actions carried out. Members of the board of the Saint Martin Nature Reserve Management Association (AGRNSM) as well as several public institutions participated: the prefecture, DEAL, direction of the Sea, collectivité of Saint Martin, nautical brigade of the gendarmerie, head of the association Les Fruits de mer, the Territorial Environment Agency of Saint Barthélemy (ATE) and the Regional Biodiversity Agency of Guadeloupe (ARB).

Action CS1, CS3, PR2 et IP6

• Updating the cartography
• Develop and test the revitalization of coral and related species (priority 2)
• Contribute to the rejuvenation of the coral reefs and seagrass beds
• Develop and appreciate scientific collaborations (priority 1)

As part of the ReCorEA project launched by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) to monitor the resilience of coral reefs and their associated ecosystems (seagrass beds and mangroves), the Réserve Naturelle hired Clément Bonnardel as head of the project. His priorities are the revision and reinforcement of the mooring zone and its lighted buoys. The project comprises four phases.

Preliminary Phase

The first phase is to update the maps, which date from the early 2000’s, of the terrestrial and maritime zones of the Réserve Naturelle, as well as create a map for the adjacent zones outside of the Réserve: Grand-Case, Anse Marcel, Cul-de-Sac, and Orient Bay… The map of these terrestrial and underwater habitats is based on an automated computer program that relies on satellite images. To do so, current field surveys done by the head of the project and the entire management staff will be used to characterize and localize robust samples of the existing habitats: sand, mangrove, coral reef, seagrass beds... These new maps will also indicate the number of boats that visit these zones, as well as the evolution of the coastline, and the existence of turbid zones of murky water caused by runoff from ravines or gray water, diverse pollution, or due to the decomposition of sargassum seaweed.

At the same time, the head of the project will survey marine professionals, recreational boaters and fishermen, in order to grasp their perception and their needs in terms of traffic within the Réserve and the mooring zone. Nautical traffic is also characterized directly on site by monitoring the number of boats by class, size, and the nature of their activities.

The goal is to define a fruitful strategy based on a compromise between the conservation of the habitats, the maximum number of boats (commercial and recreational), and reasonable supervision of users.

Management Phase

As a result of the preliminary phase, the deployment of the new mooring zone can happen: reinforcement of the existing area and installation of new ones. This will be accompanied by a new set of regulations covering practices throughout all protected areas, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the program and the conservation of marine habitats.

Monitoring Phase

Before, during, and after the deployment of the mooring zone, various monitoring systems will be in place to evaluate the initial state and evolution of the three main habitats involved in the ReCorEA project: mangroves, seagrass beds, and coral communities. This will make it possible to evaluate and monitor these habitats over time.

Awareness Phase

An essential aspect of the project, an awareness campaign has already started, most notably during “the day for those who missed out on vacation”, which allowed 300 children from Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Anguilla, and Guadeloupe to discover the ecological richness in the Baie de l’Embouchure with the Réserve. The campaign will continue in all of the schools in Saint Martin.

The goal is to raise awareness about the richness and fragility of these indispensable ecosystems in order to facilitate acceptance and adhesion to the new management regulations for activities within the Réserve Naturelle Nationale de Saint-Martin. Financed by the French Office for Biodiversity, the ReCorEA project also receives support from the Fondation Véolia Environnement and from Atout France.

Project ReCorEA: Protecting coral and associated ecosystems

The Réserve Naturelle won the call for projects launched by the French Office For Biodiversity (OFB), for the resilience of coral reefs and their associated ecosystems (seagrass beds and mangroves). Baptized ReCorEA, this project aims to reduce the pressure put on these three coastal ecosystems. The project proposed by the Réserve Naturelle desires to evaluate and limit the impact created by the restoration of the mangrove, on one hand, but also the impact linked to nautical activities on the other hand, through the reinforcement of mooring zones—at Rocher Créole, Tintamarre, and Pinel—accompanied by a new management strategy and usage regulations. The goal of this project, which will comprise the updating of the mapping of the coastal habitats and surveying the health of the three ecosystems targeted by the Réserve Naturelle, consists suggesting activities to restore the mangroves, redeployment of the zones for mooring and light equipment (ZMEL), protecting the seagrass beds, and coral communities. These actions, planned for 2023 and 2024, will be run within the Réserve and its immediate periphery by a project manager recently recruited. Financed by the OFB, the ReCorEA project has also been funded by the Véolia Environmental Foundation and Atout France. These activities are consistent with other activities led by the Réserve Naturelle for several years, as well as by the Galisbay Port Authority, in the bays of Marigot, Grand Case, and Cul de Sac.

Participation in the second seminar for the Life BIODIV’OM project

The second seminar for the Life BIODIV’OM project was held in French Guiana on September 19-23, 2022, on the theme of territorial dialogue and participatory sciences. All of the partners and beneficiaries of Life BIODIV’OM were present... except Aude Berger and Vincent Oliva, stuck in Saint Martin due to delays in air traffic due to uncertain weather. Luckily, they were both able to participate via video conference. Video link for the seminar:

Video link for the seminair : https://www.lifebiodivom.fr/images/videos 

The LPO Visits Saint Martin

From December 7-9, Delphine Morin, coordinator of the Life BIODIV’OM for the LPO (League for the Protection of Birds) met with the Réserve Naturelle. This visit was an opportunity for the LPO to observe the situation on the island and make a report on recent activities, as well as discuss with the management team the eventuality of a request to prolong the Life BIODIV’OM in Europe, as solicited by the other partners of the project, except the AGRNSM. This question is currently being debated internally and with the LPO, in terms of potential technical or financial consequences.

Two Projects In The France Relance Program

Two programs proposed by the Réserve Naturelle were selected as part of the France Relance program, as financed by France and Europe for one year. The first project concerns the submersion of artificial “Biohut” habitats as part of the port infrastructure in Saint Martin. Sylvère Robin, an intern at the Réserve between February and July 2022, was responsible for managing the installation of these artificial nurseries whose role is to promote recolonization by underwater flora and fauna. He worked in collaboration with the operators of the Port of Galisbay, the Marina Fort Louis, and the marina at Anse Marcel, all of whom approved the project. A linear module of 6 Biohuts was submerged at Galisbay and two linear modules of 6 Biohuts at Anse Marcel and Fort Louis. The structures are provided by Ecocéan, a company specializing in the ecological restoration of the aquatic milieu. They were on the island in July 2022 to build and install the Biohuts, filled with empty conch shells. These artificial habitats serve as nurseries and are intended to shelter fish and crustaceans during the very early stages of their life, to give them a better chance of survival at this critical stage. An initial investigation of the sites was done before installation of the habitats to allow for a comparison during the first follow-up, planned for October.

See the second France Relance project concerning the regulation of small rodents page 19.

Ecological Moorings To Protect Coral Reefs

During the summer of 2022, the scientific department of the Réserve worked hand-in-hand with Fleur Wintzer to refine a project under consideration by the French Office of Biodiversity (OFB), whose goal would be to reinforce the number of ecological moorings—at Rocher Créole, Tintamarre, Pinel, and Caye Verte— and the maritime buoys of the Réserve. This project was previously submitted to the OFB by the Réserve, in response to the call for de ReCorEA projects for the rehabilitation of coral reefs and their associated eco-systems. It was submitted a second time to the ReCorEA jury in a more detailed version: preparatory diagnostics on zones frequented by boats, definition of a deployment strategy for mooring zones with lighted buoys, and awareness activities for a better acceptance of this program by boaters. This fits perfectly with the approach initiated by the Port Authority of Saint Martin, for the placing of lighted buoys in the bays of Marigot and Grand-Case. On September 8, Julien Chalifour defended this project, which had been validated by the management council presided by the prefect, via video conference before the ReCorEA jury. The jury, which once again has the support of its members, only asked a few questions and requested just for one small modification before granting their acceptance.

Juvenile Fish Appreciate The BioHuts

If exploratory fishing missions, as part of the BIODIV’OM Life project, aim to document and describe the arrival of post-larvae by our shores, the installation in February 2020 of 14 BioHuts, actual huts to protect out coastal biodiversity, add a complementary approach, The huts are also part of a study on the colonization of small coastal areas, as well as the study of the two species of grouper cited. On September 2, a dive took place to observe these artificial habitats, where juvenile fish can mature, out of the reach of their predators. The metal mesh of these BioHuts allow observation of the young fish and serves as a support for the development of the food they need. This second approach also allows the observation of other species, less sensitive to light, who escaped from the exploratory fisheries.

Final Exploratory Fishing Session For The Life Program

As part of the BIODIV’OM Life program, the sixth session for collecting samples of post-larvae took place on October 3-9, 2021, under a new moon, closing out exploratory fishing. The data is being sorted and will reveal whether or not post-larvae for the Nassau or Atlantic goliath grouper were found in the waters of Saint Martin. These results are not totally conclusive, as the arrival of such post-larvae could have been outside of the time periods when the samples were taken, or at other sites, or even that the sampling was done under unusual conditions tied to the water currents or the water temperature of the ocean. However, a large number of post-larvae for other species could be observed, in proportions that do not necessarily correspond to that of adult fish as observed during dives. The greater pipefish—for example—a sort of unrolled seahorse, very present among the post-larvae—is much more rarely identified in its adult stage. These observations will also help adapt the calendar of post-larvae arrivals, which will facilitate additional operations to rejuvenate other species such as, among others, the surgeonfish.

• On September 22, with an eye toward the tourist season, the technical services department inspected and repaired the mooring blocks and buoys made available to boats at Rocher Créole and Tintamare.
• On September 30, new mooring buoys were installed at Rocher Créole and Tintamare.

Cooperation between reserves

Since 2007, the Réserve Naturelle has conducted its annual scientific study of the reefs and underwater plant beds. In 2019, this took place on September 9-12, with the support of a representative from the Réserve Guadeloupéenne de Petite-Terre. He came to help the staff in Saint Martin document the evolution of the overall health of the coral communities and sea grass beds, at stations both in and outside of the perimeters of the Réserve. This year, this ongoing study was complemented by a study of groupers, as part of the LIFE program, on four of the eight sites that were observed. These sites will be the focus of a bi-annual study, until the conclusion of the LIFE program in 2023. As usual, this cooperation also saw the team from Saint Martin lend a hand to Saint Barth and Petite-Terre under the same conditions. Aude Berger went to Petite-Terre on November 15-17 and Vincent Oliva to Saint Barth on November 20-22.

It is interesting to note that 90% of the fish larvae, including the grouper, dies during its dispersion in ocean currents, while the recuperation and raising of post-larva fish is an efficient method to increase the number of individuals. But several questions remain. How to catch these tiny little fish? When? Where exactly? How many? And how to recognize them? To help find the answers to these questions, the company, Écocéans, trained the team at the Réserve Naturelle in larval collection, as part of the LIFE program. On October 3, and for a few days after, luminous sampling tubes were deployed in the ocean to collect larvae carried by the currents. The larvae are then moved to a marine milieu where they transform into post-larvae, ready to colonize the coastal waters. This operation takes place at night, as these miniscule animals are attracted by the light, and will be repeated regularly over a period of two years to determine the best moment to recover the grouper larvae. Once this technique has been mastered, the larvae will be raised in an aquarium until they are large enough to return to their natural milieu and have a better chance of survival.

On June 3-7, the Réserve Naturelle hosted the 35 participants of the IFRECOR national committee (French Initiative For Coral Reefs). Created in 1999 and led by the environmental and overseas ministers, IFRECOR set out to create a policy that promotes the preservation and management of coral reefs. Saint Martin was selected to organize this important biennial event, and to showcase the island almost two years after Irma. After a first meeting at the CCISM, the working meetings took place at the Esmeralda Hotel, where the committee was staying. On the agenda: activities created by all of the local committees as well as the Réserve Naturelle of Saint Martin —as the island does not have its own IFRECOR committee at the moment— to discuss coral conservation, post-Irma shipwrecks, and a post-hurricane report about the island. As coral reefs and related flora, such as the underwater plant beds and mangroves, are threatened throughout all French overseas areas, each participant presented the current situation on their island, in each of the three oceans. At the same time, scientific experts discussed the results of their work and the actions taken

As if the coral has not suffered enough from higher temperatures due to climate change, the past year has also seen a new disease that kills coral within just a few days. Very present in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, this disease baptized SCTL —Stony Coral Tissue Loss— was first observed on the Dutch side earlier this year and is possibly transported and spread via the ballast of cruise ships and cargo ships. As its name indicates, this disease is characterized by a rapid necrosis of living tissue on the surface of massive coral —brain coral, pillar coral— which die in the space of a week without possibility of recuperation. The presence of this disease was confirmed at Rocher Créole and Tintamare and is of a bacterial nature. The Réserve Naturelle invites all divers to report any new sightings as well as take all necessary precautions to avoid spreading the disease, for example by disinfecting all dive gear: rinse in fresh water with chlorine and dry in the sun.

Formerly included in the local committee for IFRECOR (French Initiative For Coral Reefs) in Guadeloupe, Saint Barth has had its own local committee since October 2018. This group met for the first time on April 12, 2019 in Gustavia, under the aegis of the Territorial Environmental Agency (ATE). Julien Chalifour, director of the scientific division of Réserve Naturelle of Saint Martin, participated in this first meeting, at which time the ATE and the Collectivité of Saint Barth formalized their partnership with IFRECOR and the French Agency for Biodiversity (AFB), while bringing together all those concerned on the island, in order to establish study groups in conjunction with scientific experts. At the end of these technical workshops, the challenges of preservation of the coral reef and marine plant beds were identified as the main issues and given priority, in order to determine the best actions to get started and ensure their conservation.

Every year, between 15,000 and 20,000 tons of suntan lotion end up in the world’s oceans. This represents—along with global warming—one of the principal causes of coral bleaching. These chemical, toxic products, intended to protect our skin from UV rays, are like poison for the coral, as they modify its DNA and cause new shoots to die without the opportunity to develop. Information is getting out, so that consumers are asking for new kinds of sunscreens that are 100% organic and respect the environment. The Réserve Naturelle encourages swimmers to use these new products and will soon sign a sponsoring agreement with Alphanova. Located in Hyères (France), this company has developed suntan lotions that respect the environment, and they approached the Réserve in Saint Martin, offering to donate 1% of their worldwide sales of such products. In exchange, the Réserve is committed to the restoration of the coral in its marine zones, primarily by planting cuttings, and to direct diving and other tourist activities to certain areas, in order to give a rest to those sites that have too many visitors. Staff members from Alphanova will participate in these projects and the company will provide their suntan lotion and anti-UV clothing to the Réserve. At the same time, the Réserve will raise awareness with diving clubs, asking them to forbid chemical sunscreens at dive sites.

Keeping an eye on the health of the marine milieu, and especially the coral reefs and their resident populations, is a priority for IFRECOR— French Initiative For Coral Reefs.

With this in mind, an agreement between the Réserve Naturelle and IFRECOR, via the Regional Direction for the Environment, will lead to the development of indicators to track the health of the reef communities, as well as review the 2018 activities of the “reef network” in the French West Indies. Amandine Vaslet, PhD in marine biology, will lead these two projects. She recently evaluated the first management plan for the Réserve Naturelle, before creating the second.

In order to lead these projects properly, the scientist will refer to the data from scientific studies on the reefs done by the Réserve in 2017 and 2018, as part of the reserve network’s Reef Check project.

The analysis of this data will provide information about the extent to which hurricane Irma impacted the coral in Saint Martin.

Vaslet’s report is expected in December 2018.

On October 15-17, 2018 at the Overseas Ministry, Nicolas Maslach, director of the Réserve Naturelle de Saint-Martin, participated in the standing committee of IFRECOR—French Initiative For Coral Reefs. Site by site, studies conducted about the ocean floor in the French Overseas Territories were presented. This report preceded a session on strategies to follow, or establish, for the conservation of the reefs, plant beds, and mangroves in years to come. At the same time, various methods of working were proposed concerning development projects threatening these natural environments, and the method MERCI, to Avoid, Reduce, and Compensate, was born. In other words, in the short term, to avoid development, but if it has to take place, act to reduce the consequences on the marine milieu, and finally impose an obligation on the developer to compensate for the expected impact, by financing ecologically sound projects.

The European LIFE Program disposes three billion euros to fund projects that promote the environment and climate between 2014 and 2020. This year, LIFE targeted species that have special conservations needs, and the Réserve Naturelle presented a dossier aspiring to restoring two species of grouper: the Nassau grouper, which rarely reaches adult size due to over fishing, and the giant grouper, which can be observed locally in an anecdotal fashion, once every two or three years. Appreciated by divers due to their curiosity toward them, these fish are superior predators ecologically speaking—they could take care of the lionfish population for example— but also economically in the long term, for the delicacy of their flesh. This dossier is part of an international collaboration with Martinique, Barbados, Florida, and mainland France, and is part of a global project proposed by Overseas France, and coordinated by the League for the Protection of Birds, which is not sectarian. The dossier constituted by the Réserve is based on several projects, but the ultimate goal is the sustainable management of these populations:

• Creation of a socio-economic report on the role of these species in Saint Martin in terms of ecology, consumption, and tradition;
• Study of the state of these populations still present; • Public awareness in general and in particular for school students;
• Experimental studies on the recruitment of these two species, knowing that grouper larva migrates for several months over hundreds of miles, depending on the currents, before the post-larval and young grouper settle onto the reefs;
• A study on the evolution of regulations concerning these two species. More than 200,000 euros was allotted to the Réserve for the period 2018-2023. This budget will allow the Réserve to finance visits by specialists to create diagnostics and train the agents. A project manager will be recruited shortly: this post will be shared between the LIFE program and the AFB project for the preservation of sea turtles. (see article page 24).