Saint-Martin

General description

Saint-Martin island is part of the Lesser Antilles in the Carabean. The 93 km² island is divided between a French overseas collectivity (Saint-Martin) in the north and a Dutch kingdom (Sint-Maarten) in the south, its economy is based on tourism and associated services: hotels, restaurants…

The island benefits from a warm, tropical climate (mean temperature 26.9°C) and has no permanent water courses except for two main ravines that flow into either different lakes bordered by mangroves or directly into the sea and have a rich and varied marine biodiversity.

Study site

Saint-Martin national nature reserve

This reserve covers 3054 hectares, 95% of which are maritime, and allow for the conservation of the principal ecosystems: coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, lakes and coastal dry forest. These ecosystems harbour a remarkable biodiversity of which more than 1000 plant and animal species have been identified including the Atlantic and Nassau groupers that occupy the marine part of the reserve. The conservation actions will occur in the marine part of the reserve and beyond its limits.