Have you heard the great news!? Mullet Pond, one of St. Maarten’s most important wetlands, officially became a Ramsar site last week. This means that Mullet Pond is now listed and protected as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Treaty!
St. Maarten Nature Foundation, Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC), Ministry of Environment VROMI, Department of Foreign Relations, Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ramsar Europe Secretariat have worked for almost four years to have Mullet Pond listed as a Ramsar site of global importance.
The Ramsar Convention, signed in Iran in 1971, is a global commitment to maintain the ecological character of global wetland areas, including in the wider Caribbean region. Wetlands on the list acquire a new national and international status as they are recognized as being of significant value, not only for the country on which they are located, but for humanity as a whole.
A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally, and as such takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem. On St. Maarten, our wetlands are our ponds and lagoon.
All St. Maarten wetlands suffer from pollution related challenges as a result of poor or non-existent waste management facilities and infrastructure. Heavy metals, sewage, solid waste, oil, and other pollutants threaten our wetlands as well as human health, ecology, and the economy. In addition, filling in and dredging of wetlands, often without permits, are persistent problems.
The area of Simpson Bay Lagoon, one of the largest lagoons in the Caribbean, continues to diminish in size, as the edges and associated mangrove and sea grass habitat are cut down and filled in to create more developable land. In 1950, Dutch Sint Maarten boasted at least 19 ponds. By 1995, this had been reduced to 10; and today, only five ponds remain intact: Salt Pond, Fresh Pond, Little Bay Pond, Red Pond and Mullet Pond.
Ponds destroyed in the past decade alone include the two ponds in Cupecoy (completely destroyed in February 2005 for the Porto Cupecoy project), the pond in Guana Bay (completely destroyed in March 2005) and pond in Dawn Beach (completely destroyed in May 2005 by Columbia Sussex for The Westin Hotel).
On Sint Maarten, it is evident that we have disregarded and destroyed most of our wetlands with ease, yet wetlands (including Mullet Pond) are crucial for our survival. The following are just a few reasons why:
1. They are the reason we are here today.
Wetlands have historical and social significance because of their contribution to the development of inland regions. Communities would settle amongst fresh water sources to make sure they had drinking and bathing water. Salt has always been a precious natural resource for people. The Arawaks named the island “Soualiga” – meaning land of Salt.
When the Dutch moored on St. Maarten (1624) to repair damage they had sustained during their voyage, they soon “discovered” The Great Salt Pond, one of our wetlands. This was a major find, because now they had access to a vast supply of valuable goods. The salt was sold to traders in the Caribbean and “New England” in the USA. St. Maarten had become very important to them.
Without this Salt Pond, it would be unlikely that the Dutch would have ever settled on St. Maarten. History would’ve been written very differently and I, like many other St. Maarteners, would not be here today!
2. They protect us from flooding.
Wetlands play an equally crucial role in preventing flooding. Basically, if your roof is leaking, you will put a bucket under the leak to catch the water. Wetlands are nature’s “buckets” that store water during heavy rains, slowing runoff into streams and reducing flood peaks.
Since diminishing the Salt Pond to half its size, flooding has occurred more rapidly in Philipsburg. Research reveals that sufficiently wide and tall vegetation canopy (such as mangroves) can reduce inundation on land by 5 to 40% depending on the type of storm and vegetation.
3. They keep us safe during storms.
Not only do wetlands protect us from floods, they also protect us from storms. Simpson Bay Lagoon has been a safe haven for vessels for decades. Forested wetlands also prevent erosion and reduce wave-action.
3. They clean our water.
Talking about increasing our safety, wetlands also provide us with cleaner water! Wetlands act as the Earth's filters, cleaning up water in a number of ways. For example, nitrogen in water is transformed to harmless nitrogen gas and nutrients are taken up by wetland plants in the water. You might say, "I thought nutrients were good."
Nutrients such as phosphorus are necessary, but can be a classic example of how "too much of a good thing is bad." Excess nutrients can cause an undesirable increase in algae and aquatic plant growth. The result is that the water starts to look like pea soup with massive algae blooms and depleted dissolved oxygen levels. This can be deadly for aquatic life.
Wetlands also remove pollutants such as phosphorous, heavy metals and toxins, which are trapped in the sediments of the wetlands. These heavy metals and toxins could cause a number of dangerous diseases, even death, if we ingested or got into contact with them!
4. They are an important ecosystem.
Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, comparable to rain forests and coral reefs. An immense variety of species of microbes, plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish and mammals can be part of a wetland ecosystem.
Wetlands support great concentrations of bird life and far more species than a similar forest area. St. Maarten has 164 recorded bird species, with water birds making up a large part of the group – many of these birds breed, nest and forage among the wetlands. EPIC and Bird Life International have identified five Important Birds Areas (IBAs), three of which are Little Bay Pond, Fresh Pond and Great Salt Pond.
Also important to note is that they provide a safe haven for many types of juvenile fish, including species that are important for commercial fisheries. Without wetlands and the protection they provide, less fish are able to grow up big and strong, adding to our coral reefs and fisheries around the world. If you catch fish, eat fish, or appreciate the beauty of fish and their importance in the web of life, you need to also care about our wetlands.
5. They are fun, educational and beautiful.
Wetlands everywhere provide important leisure facilities such as kayaking and fishing, bird watching, swimming, snorkelling and sailing. Natural areas like wetlands offer us an escape from the everyday hustle-bustle and help us quiet our minds and relax.
Our wetlands are one of the few places left on Sint Maarten where we can enjoy glimpses of our natural heritage and value of our land. These places can be fun, but also educational to explore. They offer us the opportunity to educate ourselves about the unique flora and fauna our island has to offer, sites you will not be able to see anywhere else in the world.
6. They are of great economic importance.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment gave wetlands a value of US $15 trillion in 1997. Wetlands have such a high economic value because of the many reasons stated above. Wetlands directly influence the health of our commercial fisheries. Simply put: less wetlands = less fish = less money in the pockets of fisheries, fisherman, supermarkets and restaurants.
The protection they give us from storms and floods is immense, which also means they protect us from the cost of damages. Coastal wetlands in the USA are estimated to currently provide US $23.2 billion a year in storm protection services alone! Based on the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) World Conservation Monitoring Center 2006 document, “In the front lines: shoreline protection and other ecosystem services from mangroves”, the value of the 880 square metres of Mangrove Habitat, which represents the Mullet Pond ecosystem, is equal to US $792,000 per year towards the economy of St. Maarten in its intact form, not counting or taking into consideration the high biological value that the area represents.
Because our wetlands provide such an important ecosystem to so many birds on Sint Maarten, it also makes our island a unique birding area. In April 2016, we were named one of the top 10 birding destinations in the Caribbean. In a 2011 report, “Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis” presented information on the participation and expenditure patterns of 47 million American birders in 2011. Trip-related and equipment-related expenditures associated with birding generated nearly $107 billion in total industry output, 666,000 jobs, and $13 billion in local, state, and federal tax revenue!
If we focused on protecting our remaining wetlands and important birding areas, geared our efforts towards restoring them and making them suitable for birders around the world, we could be making a lot of money! St. Maarten’s marine industry – marinas, mega yacht charter companies, marine businesses and more – centred on the Lagoon, represents 12.5% of the island’s economy, compared to 9.5% for the hotel and restaurant industry (Central Bureau of Statistics).
Protecting our wetlands is not just important for our wildlife, water condition, safety, value of life and health; but it obviously fills our pockets too! Thus, it is not just great news but magnificent news that Mullet Pond has been listed and protected as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Treaty, offering it protection from further development.
The inclusion of a “Ramsar Site” in the list also shows the government’s commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure that its ecological value is maintained. As Tadzio Bervoets of Nature Foundation mentioned in a press release: “This is a significant step for Sint Maarten: having our first Ramsar site listed, especially during a time when many of our wetlands are under significant threat from development. Hopefully, this is the first of many such designated sites for Sint Maarten.”
Another pond that has been suggested to be named as a Ramsar site is Little Bay Pond. This was based on reports, such as “The Ponds of Sint-Maarten” (Ecovision, 1996), the “Carrying Capacity Study,” and the “Tourism Masterplan,” all of which concluded that our remaining ponds are of utmost ecological and environmental importance.
With the recently announced Pearl of China project and pending plans for developments on Belair beach, both closely adjacent to Little Bay Pond, we must ask ourselves: Shouldn’t we be focusing on preserving our remaining five ponds? How can we restore the important ecological and economical functions that our wetlands provide? Are these current plans really the most sustainable options for this area?
We are on the edge of losing our few remaining natural heritage sites. One must keep in mind that besides the numerous benefits our wetlands provide, these last remaining natural areas also set us apart from the rest of the world. If we do not take a serious look at our past choices – which have put unsustainable development above all, under the cloak of progress, jobs and economic revenue – we will be falling over the edge and into a deep pit of no-return very soon.
Let’s make sure we do not lose the few remaining pearls that our island has left!
Contributed by Laura Bijnsdorp
