ST. MAARTEN MARINE PARK MANAGEMENT PLAN 2007 St Maarten Marine Park Management Plan St. Maarten Marine Park Management Plan 2006 Front cover Photograph Credit: Earth Sciences and Image analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Centre (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov) Duncan MacRae, Director. Nature Foundation St. Maarten 22 Rosemundy, St Agnes, Cornwall, UK ! PO Box 863, Philipsburg, St Maarten. [email protected] ! www.cozm.co.uk [email protected] www.naturefoundationsxm.org ii St Maarten Marine Park Management Plan Contents 1 SINT MAARTEN: BACKGROUND INFORMATION...............................13 1.1 Location ...............................................................................................................14 1.2 History and Culture ..............................................................................................16 History ....................................................................................................................... 16 Culture....................................................................................................................... 19 1.3 Population ...........................................................................................................20 1.4 Politics and Economics.........................................................................................22 Politics ....................................................................................................................... 22 Economy .................................................................................................................... 22 Economic development ................................................................................................. 23 1.5 Climate ................................................................................................................26 1.6 Geology and Geomorphology ...............................................................................29 1.7 Oceanography......................................................................................................31 1.8 Terrestrial Habitats, Flora and Fauna ...................................................................33 1.9 Marine habitats, flora and fauna ..........................................................................35 Open Water ................................................................................................................ 38 Seabed - Seagrass ....................................................................................................... 40 Seabed – Sand and Algae ............................................................................................. 41 Seabed – Coral reefs .................................................................................................... 42 Intertidal -Beaches and sand dunes................................................................................ 51 Intertidal - Mangroves .................................................................................................. 54 Intertidal - Rocky shores............................................................................................... 57 1.10 Special interest habitats and species ...................................................................60 Habitats of interest ...................................................................................................... 60 Species of Interest....................................................................................................... 61 1.11 Human use of the Marine Environment ................................................................64 Tourism and recreation................................................................................................. 64 Fisheries..................................................................................................................... 65 Shipping..................................................................................................................... 65 1.12 References ...........................................................................................................66 2 MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENT ........................................................67 2.1 Introduction.........................................................................................................68 2.2 St Maarten Marine Park........................................................................................69 2.3 Statement of Significance and Values ..................................................................71 Statement of significance.............................................................................................. 71 A summary of values associated with St. Maarten Marine Park. .......................................... 72 iii St Maarten Marine Park Management Plan 2.4 Vision, Mission and Goals.....................................................................................74 2.5 Stakeholders........................................................................................................75 2.6 Stakeholder Input ................................................................................................76 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 76 Meeting Feedback ........................................................................................................ 77 Questionnaire input...................................................................................................... 81 St Maarten Tourism Master Plan Report input .................................................................. 83 2.7 Uses of SXM MPA .................................................................................................85 2.8 Zoning..................................................................................................................86 Zoning description ....................................................................................................... 86 Zone location .............................................................................................................. 88 2.9 Governance..........................................................................................................90 Board......................................................................................................................... 90 Institutional arrangements ............................................................................................ 90 St. Maarten Marine Park Ordinance ................................................................................ 91 Other relevant legislative and policy tools ....................................................................... 94 Permits ...................................................................................................................... 95 Rules and guidelines .................................................................................................... 96 2.10 Physical Resources ..............................................................................................98 Mooring programme details........................................................................................... 99 2.11 Human Resources ..............................................................................................100 2.12 Issues ................................................................................................................101 Global issues and natural disasters............................................................................... 101 Historical issues......................................................................................................... 102 Current Management issues ........................................................................................ 102 Current ‘external’ issues ............................................................................................. 104 Summary of issues .................................................................................................... 112 3 MANAGEMENT PLAN .....................................................................113 3.1 Marine Park Management Activities ...................................................................114 Key Issues and Actions ............................................................................................... 115 Work schedule for 2006/2007...................................................................................... 119 Planned Activities....................................................................................................... 123 3.2 Recommendations .............................................................................................128 3.3 Appendices ........................................................................................................131 4 ADDITIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS.................................................132 iv St Maarten Marine Park Management Plan Figures Figure 1: St. Maarten and the other Dutch Caribbean islands................................................ 14 Figure 2: The main physical features of St. Maarten ............................................................ 15 Figure 3: St. Maarten’s Flag. ............................................................................................ 19 Figure 4: Population density of the Dutch Caribbean Islands................................................