St. Maarten Private Eye

Dredger spotted destroying Simpson Bay Lagoon

EPIC and SXM Pride Press release

On Tuesday August 26th, 2008 St. Maarten Pride Foundation and EPIC received word that a Dredger was seen removing large quantities of sand from the Simpson Bay Lagoon and depositing it on the Island of Little Key.

Foundation volunteers arrived at Little Key to investigate the reports and took several pictures of the dredger in action before its Captain ceased operations, boarded another vessel and hurried it back to its home port in an attempt to avoid further inquires by aforementioned volunteers. The Foundations have learnt that the dredger was in the process of digging a deep channel to a Marina located behind the Airport parking lot.

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Dredging activities do not merely remove sand; these activities often result in the complete removal and destruction of animals, habitats and ecosystems from the excavation site.

Recent surveys conducted by foundation staff indicated small pockets of regenerating seagrass beds in the area where the dredger was operating. Seagrasses experience rapid growth in lagoons due to the relatively shallow waters which allow for ample sunlight to reach the beds and minimal currents which prevent shearing of seagrass blades. This rapid growth makes seagrass beds highly productive and suitable as feeding and nursery grounds. These ecosystems therefore attract a great diversity of wildlife, such as the great barracuda, stingrays, marine turtles, sea stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and the queen conch.

Indications are that much of the pockets of regenerating seagrass beds around Little key were destroyed during Tuesday’s dredging. In addition to the loss of seagrass beds the aforementioned dredging also caused serious damage to and loss of fragile mangrove seedlings as the Dredger dumped sand on top of these ecologically valuable plants along the Little Key shoreline.

In May of 2007 St. Maarten’s environmental foundations jointly requested the Executive Council to place the Island of Little Key and a buffer zone of 100 meters surrounding the entire island in the protective custody of the aforementioned Foundations in a National Environmental Trust for conservation and nature management purposes. It was suggested that the Trust can be set up by issuing the long lease rights of Little Key to a newly formed Foundation administered by the Island’s environmental foundations with the sole objective of protecting and exercising custody rights over this Island. In doing so, the Foundations could guarantee that this small Island in the Lagoon will be maintained as a nature reserve for birds and marine wildlife.

Unfortunately Government never responded to this proposal. Pride and EPIC strongly condemn excessive dredging as well as other environmental crimes taking place both in and around the Simpson Bay Lagoon and hereby renew the foundation’s calls to government to protect Little Key and the Mullet Bay Pond.

Environmental Protection In the Caribbean
St. Maarten Pride Foundation

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The press release from last year can be found here. More on the lagoon can be found here and here and here. Caribdude's photo video on the lagoon from almost 2 years ago is here and Reuben Thompsons Lagoon Logs can be found here. - Flipper

Development and Construction | Environment | Epic Foundation | Mullet Bay | Simpson Bay Lagoon | SXM Pride Foundation | Flipper's blog | 32 comments | read more