Conservation

Your Contribution towards Conservation through Seagrape Tours

Seagrape Tours believes that showing visitors St Maarten/ St Martin’s natural and fragile beauty – in a sustainable way – creates awareness of the need for conservation.

The Dutch St Maarten Minister of Tourism has been quoted saying that visitors are looking for authentic and island unique experiences: the more Seagrape Tours and other companies depend and focus on our nature for an income, the more chance our government will put nature reserves into place to keep our economy going, which is solely based on tourism.

To support local conservation, Seagrape Tours works closly together the nature conservation organisations on St Maarten/ St Martin.

In 2016 we’ve broadened our spectrum, to conservation efforts in the entire Caribbean and to the preservation of local historical sites.

We support:

St Maarten Nature Foundation – Thanks so much to you for executing a coral reforestation project. Many thanks also for persevering in having the first wetland on the Dutch side of St Maarten – Mullet Bay Pond – declared protected nationally and internationally under RAMSAR.

St Maarten Archeological Center – Thanks so much to Dr Jay Haviser and your students for initiating and assisting the renovation of the oldest Dutch Fort in the Caribbean – Fort Amsterdam, for planting trees, and for maintaining and researching areas on St Maarten of historical value.

BirdsCaribbean – Thanks so much for putting Caribbean birds and birding on the map, for creating awareness, for executing conservation and for training of teachers and guides on the islands.

Reserve Naturelle de St Martin – Per Birding Tour guest a mandatory contribution for the Reserve Naturelle de St Martin is paid, so we can visit and enjoy the birds at one of the greatest birding areas on St Martin: Les Salines d’Orient.

Sint Maarten Nature Foundation – Thank you Tadzio Bervoets and team for working so hard to protect and improve St Maarten’s nature. Your efforts are very much appreciated.

Les Fruits de Mer – Thank you Mark Yokoyama and Jenn Yerkes and all your volunteers for publishing the  ‘Incomplete Guide to Wildlife on St Martin‘, for your weekly columns in the Daily Herald’s Weekender, for organizing yearly nature events such as the Migratory Bird Festival, and for creating the first ever museum of natural history on St Martin, the wonderful and free Amuseum Naturalis in The Old House, Quartier d’Orleans.

Heart for St Martin’s Nature

Both the Dutch and the French side have their own nature conservation organization.

Management of Sint Maarten’s nature park falls under the Nature Foundation St Maarten www.naturefoundationsxm.org. So far the Dutch side of St Martin only has an official Marine Park, which is a couple of miles offshore the South coast. The fish life and coral reefs in this area have thrived since the establishment of the park in 2010 and are an absolute delight to dive on. One wetland – Mullet Pond – is protected since 2016.

Le Reserve Naturelle de St Martin www.reservenaturelle-saint-martin.com takes care of the French side’s natural heritage under water and manages several marine parks which also cover half of its coastline.

The French St Martin land parks are managed by Conservatoire du Littoral and cover 13 areas most of which are salt ponds. Their boardwalks through mangroves and blind walls for birding are great and also have informative signs giving insight in the flora and fauna that can be found in the specific habitat and what their ecological function is.

There are more non-profit and also non-governmental organizations who deeply care about St Maarten/ St Martin’s nature and future. The following list is not complete, but to give you an idea: