St. Maarten Private Eye

So, what we are dealing with here is a big pool of polluted and more or less saline water, besides that, we also have to cope with rising wheat/rice/oil/etc prices. The question is, how can you solve these two issues in one step?
Well, I just happened to be leaving through the Dutch Saturday newspaper (de Volkskrant) and as I quickly turned the pages of the Science part, my eyes were caught by - what seemed to me - the perfect solution.
Here's the article.

Some of you might not be able to read it, for it is entirely in Dutch. Therefore, I shall try to explain the process here:
Shital Dixit, from the Dutch Wageningen Universiteit, has been doing research and found that genetically modified plants can be developed that perform significantly better than existing varieties in dry and saline soils.
Let's repeat that: saline soils!!!
Dixit discovered genes that radically enhance the seed production of rice and Arabidopsis plants in dry and saline conditions. This is a major breakthrough considering the rising demands for food and the effects of climate change.
There you go, another major issue as well.

Anyway, there's another way of using the salt pond wisely in addition to the above.
With today’s skyrocketing oil prices - SXM will undoubtedly be affected – it might be clever to try to be a little less dependent of it. Therefore, we must introduce solar power, generate energy from the wind, reuse water for irrigation, transform organic waste into fertilizer for the grounds, etc.
So here’s Plan B for our Salt Pond: create a paddy field in the pond, which not only provides us with rice but also with energy. Research has shown us that1 ha can supply 28 households with energy for an entire year! I suppose it’s even more effective in SXM, where the climate makes central heating entirely unnecessary. 14.000 Watt, annually! And just from 10.000 square metres!
I mean how big is the Groote Zoutpan anyway? Calculate it yourself!
Semper pro grediens, right?